


From the Beginning Until Now

by Mellowyellowdiamonds



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Campy, Dig thinks Oliver is a twit, F/M, Fluffy fluff fluff because I am a fluffy kind of girl, Silly, Smitten Oliver Queen, but hopefully fun, long suffering Diggle
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2018-10-25 08:02:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10760112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mellowyellowdiamonds/pseuds/Mellowyellowdiamonds
Summary: A collection of one shots or anything random and Olicity related that might pop into my head!10. Bad Luck - OTA mourns the loss of their former team members (the useless N00bs) who come to an unfortunate end.A post 614 rage crackficNOT FOR ANYONE WHO IS A FAN OF THE SHITTY USELESS NOOBS (Aka Curtis, Rene and Dinah) ON ARROW





	1. Back to Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Content List
> 
> 1\. Back to Your Heart - Based on the synopsis released for 522, Felicity throws Oliver a birthday party
> 
> 2\. The Perfect Year (Part One) - Felicity and Co get rescued after 523. Felicity and Oliver move onto the next step of their relationship. Ray reappears.
> 
> 3\. The Perfect Year (Part Two) - The eagerly awaited Olicity wedding takes place but is temporarily interrupted by a friendly intruder.
> 
> 4\. Once Upon a Dream (Part One) - An Olicity meet cute (hopefully!) in an alternate universe.
> 
> 5\. Thank You in Advance - Thea Queen is adamant that Oliver is not getting any younger and needs to find The One. Fortunately luck smiles down on Oliver when he has a run in with an adorable Felicity Smoak at Starling Ice Skating rink.
> 
> 6\. Once Upon a Dream (Part Two) - Oliver comes up with a messy plan to woo the charming IT Consultant he meets earlier that morning. Meanwhile Dig thinks there is a much simpler and sane way to get the girl.
> 
> 7\. School Days – Oliver learns to stop being a control freak and navigates the trials and tribulations of sending his daughter to preschool.
> 
> 8\. Once Upon a Dream (Part Three) - Oliver comes up with yet another messy plan to woo Felicity. Felicity decides it's time to take matters into her own hands.
> 
> 9\. Who's That Girl? - Felicity and Oliver go on a secret mission, give into their base urges resulting in some interesting consequences for the both of them.
> 
> 10\. Bad Luck - OTA mourns the loss of their former team members (the useless N00bs) who come to an unfortunate end.

“Hi,” she said, poking her head into his office, a bright sunny smile on her face. She was wearing what looked to him like a knitted red dress. Felicity always looked amazing and it wouldn’t surprise him if she looked amazing in a potato sack (actually those bare toned legs peeking out of a hessian sack would be a sight to behold) but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of relief and almost lightness in seeing her wear colour again. 

Her wardrobe had been swamped with dark colours of late, coinciding with the events that had taken place over the last few weeks. It wasn’t something he would ever dare to comment on but it was nice to see the bright colours returning once again. 

Everything that had happened with Chase, with Helix and their time being trapped in the bunker had been worth it to see the joy and light in her eyes again and to have her drop in on him for multiple impromptu visits lately.

“Hi,” Oliver responded, pushing his chair out to rush over and greet her. Wanting to leave no doubt as to how happy he was to see her, he leaned over to give Felicity a big hug before suddenly pausing in limbo, worried whether this was all too fast too soon. They were in a good place, taking baby steps towards being a stronger and more mature version of “them” but Oliver couldn’t help being constantly plagued by doubts as to whether he was giving her enough time and space to make her way towards him again. His awkward pause lasted for a few seconds before Felicity put him out of his misery, standing on her tippy toes to throw her arms around his neck.

“Hi,” she smiled a second time, looking up at him shyly, that beautiful smile causing his heart to hammer inside his body. He wondered if all the years of physical activity had taken a toll on him and he was going to drop dead right here with her arms around his neck. Considering who he was and how he had always thought death was inevitable for him, it would be quite a way to go.  


Lunch?” he offered still grinning at her; it was the only word that he could coherently form at the moment.

“No!” Felicity responded before correcting herself quickly as Oliver’s face fell. “I meant I have no time for lunch. Today! Because I’m busy! Preparing for dinner!”

Seeing his confused look Felicity took a deep breath before speaking again. “What I meant was I came here to ask you to drop by my place, tonight for dinner. It’s your birthday and I know you don’t like celebrating it because…. well you haven’t always had a good day on your birthday. Anyway I didn’t think you would want to go to a restaurant tonight so I was just going to slap together a meal for us at my house and then after dinner and some wine you can unwrap your birthday present and maybe it won’t be such a bad birthday after all.”

She leaned in towards him and unconsciously patted his chest as she said this. In recent weeks it were almost as if a dam had burst within her. They still weren’t officially together but they were no longer the distant and tragic version of themselves either. Felicity had begun initiating physical contact with abandon. 

Suddenly feeling buoyant and wicked (and because it was his birthday after all) Oliver couldn’t resist leaning in and whispering into her ear “Unwrap my present? Sounds veeeeeerry promising Felicity.”

“Nonono not that! Not me! I didn’t mean unwrapping me if that’s what you thought I meant. Although…” Seeing the laughter in his eyes, Felicity gave him a disgruntled huff, before swatting him playfully. “You know perfectly well what I’m talking about Oliver Queen! So dinner? 7.30 pm?”

She looked thoughtful for a moment before adding “And don’t you worry about the food! It’s an assembly job! I’m not cooking! That’s why I need to drive around town this afternoon to pick up all the bits and pieces.”

“Felicity I wouldn’t miss dinner for the world,” he smiled a hopelessly smitten smile at her. “And I’d still turn up and eat it all even if you were cooking.”

“Wow you’re very serious about giving us a second chance aren’t you, if you’re willing to eat my cooking,” she quipped cheekily. “I have to run! See you tonight!” She cupped her hands around his face and gave him the equivalent of a face pat, something she hadn’t done for a good year now, before sailing out of the room in a flurry of activity.

***

“SURPRISE,” they all chorused when Felicity opened the door. Oliver could barely contain his disappointment at the sight of his colleagues, John and Thea, all hovering around Felicity’s loft, beaming at him expectantly. He chastised himself for being ungrateful, after all they were here because they loved and cared about him and pasted a smile on his face as he thanked them for their birthday wishes. 

Oliver had spent the better part of the afternoon fantasizing about spending time alone with Felicity. Four, possibly five glorious hours alone with Felicity in the loft. He had viewed it as a fundamental stepping stone to the rebirth of their relationship, their second “first date” so to speak. It was going to be the best birthday ever. Except now he was here trying to celebrate in front of his team and trying to hide his disappointment from Thea’s sharp and prying eyes.

His sister had an uncanny ability to read him it seemed. Thea pulled him aside, sending Curtis away firmly but politely under the pretence that she needed to spend some time bonding with her big brother after having been away for several weeks.  
“Oh Ollie, was it really that hard to pretend that you were happy to see us?” she glowered at him. “I know we’ve spent some time together since my return but you don’t have to look so miserable at the prospect of seeing me at your party.”

“I’m not,” he responded defensively at once. “I just wasn’t expecting so many people.”

“You were expecting a cosy night in with Felicity,” Thea shot back triumphantly; looking part pesky, part smug. It was going to be a long night. “I knew it was a bad idea for her to invite everyone! I told her just as much but she insisted she wanted to give you a proper party. I told her to just buy some lingerie and a plastic cake to jump out of. That’s all you would have wanted but she insisted on this instead.”

“Thea!” Oliver practically yelped at his sister, looking scandalised and trying desperately to push the image of a lingerie clad Felicity crawling from a cake out of his mind.

“Oh Relax Ollie! I’m here to help! We’ll all eat a few bites of food, you blow out the candles of your cake and I’ll get rid of everybody. You can stay behind to help Felicity clean up, employ a bit of the Queen charm and get the girl back into your arms.”

Before he could pull another disapproving face at Thea, Felicity wandered up to them looking vexed as she waved a packet of frozen dim sims in their faces. Oliver noticed that she was looking rather fetching in some sort of shiny orange dress. The pattern of the dress itself was hideous and reminded him of some old drapes they had once had at Queen Manor (not that he would EVER admit that to Felicity for as long as he was alive) but the dress was short, hugged her tiny curves in all the right places and had strategically placed cut outs in the most delicious spots, revealing bare patches of lily white smooth skin that he had not seen in what felt like an eternity. 

“There you are! I was hoping you could help me out with a cooking conundrum,” Felicity beamed at him.

“I thought you weren’t cooking!” Thea responded, looking slightly scared at the prospect of eating Felicity’s cooking.

“I ordered platters of sushi and I’m just reheating a few things,” Felicity waved her off good-naturedly. “Which brings me back to this. Oliver, it says on the packet that I am to steam these but I figure boiling is as good as steaming right? Can I just boil these dim sims?”

“No it’s not the same honey,” he responded fondly, the honey slipping out before he could stop himself as he recalled all the times she had come to him with a theory for some cooking shortcut that was doomed to fail. He reached out and plucked the dim sim packet gently from her hand. “Let me take care of this Felicity.”

“I’m going to leave you two to sort out the catering,” Thea said cheerfully, giving them both a jovial pat as she made a beeline for Dinah who was at the other end of the loft.

***

“I’m beat,” Felicity sighed as she threw herself onto the large plush leather couch in the lounge room. Oliver, who was just right behind her looked around uncomfortably as he wondered where he should sit. Felicity swiftly lifted her feet up and motioned for him to sit down, depositing her feet onto his lap once he had comfortably settled on the couch. 

“Thanks for staying behind to clean up,” Felicity sighed contently. “You shouldn’t have since it’s your birthday but thank you.”

“I wanted to,” he responded quietly, giving her a soft smile. “Thank you for the cake. I know you worked hard on it. I love it.” Oliver was referring to the twelve inch iced monstrosity that vaguely resembled a lime green shaped arrow. It was the poster cake for one of those “Nailed It” Pin Interest Memes. Felicity had apparently worked on it for days. Still he had never been happier about anything in his life than to receive that rock hard, poorly ice cake. Every dry dense crumb, every uneven patch of slightly melted icing was a testament to how much Felicity loved, or rather still loved him. He had stoically refused to eat Digg’s back up Black Forest birthday cake with everyone else, instead opting to chalk down a slice of the lime green creation while beaming heart eyes at its creator. 

“It was almost inedible,” Felicity sighed sadly. Her cooking attempts always left her a little crest fallen. “But it was made out of love.”

“I know,” Oliver smiled. “And I love you all the more for it. Thank you Felicity. For the party. For the cake. For everything.”

“In hindsight I should have listened to Thea,” Felicity peered up at him sheepishly. “You looked so upset after you opened the door and saw everyone. Next year! Just you and I next year I promise. Come here.” She rolled onto her back and beckoned him over with a lazy smile. 

“Err…are you sure Felicity” Oliver responded, unsure as to what was happening or how to proceed.

“I meant come over here and lie next to me. It is your birthday after all,” Felicity wiggled to the edge of the couch and motioned for him to lie down in the space beside her. “Relax Oliver I’m not going to seduce you,” she giggled at him as he scurried over and buried his head into the crook of her arm. It was his favourite place in the world. There was nothing but happiness when he was lying in Felicity’s arms.

“I’ve got no objections to being seduced,” Oliver couldn’t resist teasing her. 

“If you think you can handle it, I might let you unwrap your present later,” Felicity whispered cheekily pulling him snugly into her arms and kissing the top of his head. 

Yes it was the best birthday ever and for once Oliver felt hopeful that his future birthdays would be even better as long as he had Felicity to love and be loved by.


	2. The Perfect Year (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very campy and unrealistic resolution to 523! Hopefully humourous!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys
> 
> Someone put me up to this. It is completely campy and trashy but I do hope those of you who like silly stories will enjoy it.
> 
> It is both an Olicity and Raylicity story. NOT a love triangle but I can't say much more without giving too much away. I will see how much interest I get for this before I write part two.

It had been a week. Seven agonising days of anguish, hopelessness and despair. In all those consecutive nights Oliver had drifted in and out of fitful sleep only to be woken up by the image of Chase’s face and his last word “Felicity” before he shot himself in the head and set off the bombs on Lian Yu.

It felt surreal right now to be standing here amongst the rubble of the island with Felicity in his arms, alive, whole and well. He had sent William hurtling towards a solidly alive looking Samantha, given Diggle and Thea bone crushing hugs and nodded at the rest of his team. He mouthed a “thank you” to Slade for leading the team to the underground Argus bunker. 

After that moment Oliver only had eyes for Felicity. Could only have eyes for her. As he clung onto her tiny frame and buried his face into her hair he could hear her whispering reassuringly to him, “It’s ok Oliver. I’m ok. As good as new. We managed to get underground in time and I rigged up enough processing power to diffuse all the bombs around us so even though the rest of the island is now uninhabitable we were quite safe. I’m just so sorry you had to spend a week thinking we were dead. God the things that must have done to you.”

It was such a Felicity trait to fret about him when she had been the one stuck on an island with bombs rigged to light up like a Christmas tree. He loosened his grip on her just enough to tilt her face up towards him, “I’ve said this before but you are remarkable Felicity Smoak.”

Felicity beamed at him and stood on her tippy toes, planting a kiss on his lips, “I’d be up for a little tongue action but I haven’t brushed my teeth for a week,” she grinned at him. Oliver could not help but let out a chuckle as he pulled her against him again.

“HALLO ANYONE STILL ALIVE. I’M HERE TO HELP! YOOOHOOOOOO,” a slightly familiar chirpy voice called out from above. Still clinging onto each other Oliver and Felicity stared up at what appeared to be a flying red mass in the sky. Their jaws dropped once they realized who they were looking at, for hovering above them, looking unmistakably cheerful was the ever sunny Ray Palmer. 

“RAY IS THAT YOU?” Felicity shouted back. Oliver grunted in protest as she untangled herself from him and proceeded to wave cheerfully at the hovering Palmer. Oliver felt an overwhelming sense of irritation as he watched Palmer land clumsily and head towards a beaming Felicity. What in God’s name was Palmer doing here and why had he picked Oliver’s epic reunion moment with Felicity to make his entrance? Oliver wrapped his arms possessively around Felicity’s waist as Palmer reached her.

“We beamed out just in time, just before an Ankylosaurus was about to whack the Waverider with its club tail. We’re not sure how to fix the situation so I got the guys to drop me back at this time. I figure I’d visit you and see if we could work on it together. Imagine my horror when I found out you had been taken to this Island and presumed dead. I couldn’t believe that you were dead. Thought I’d fly out here myself and see if I could find you,” Ray filled them in, talking at a million miles an hour.

“I’ve been caught in the middle of a lot of explosions so my ears may not be working correctly but did I hear you right when you mentioned an altercation with an Ankylosaurus? Ray what were you doing with a dinosaur from the late cretaceous period? Did you go back to that time?” Felicity asked incredulously. 

Oliver let out a huff of frustration. He had imagined this reunion moment going a little differently and here was Palmer stealing attention away from him with all his talk of dinosaurs. Palmer to his credit had enough decency to shoot Oliver an apologetic look before answering, “It’s a long story. We umm… had a bit of an incident. Gertrude was very angry. Let’s get off this Island and I’ll explain later.”

“We’ve brought in three rescue aircrafts. Head this way,” Oliver addressed the rest of the inhabitants on the beach who had been witnessing their exchange with Palmer with great curiosity. Curtis for some reason looked extremely anxious. He hadn’t looked like that when they first found the survivors at all. John also appeared to be eyeing Palmer with some measure of concern. In fact his whole team was.

As they made their way to the rescue aircrafts it was Slade who spoke first.  
“Better put a ring on it Kid. Boy Scout there looks like he’s into the blonde. I’m sensing trouble for you Kid if he hangs around any longer.”

“They’ve already dated and she chose me,” Oliver replied stiffly, trying to muster up as much dignity as possible, wondering why on earth he was justifying himself to Slade Wilson. 

“So they’ve dated eh Kid. That’s even worse. Now she’s got something to compare you to. Better put a ring on it. She might decide Boy Scout is a better option and he looks like he’s willing to jump at the Blonde as soon as she gives him a sign.”

“Slade,” Oliver spoke with a warning tone. Almost at once Ray whipped around, suddenly noticing Slade Wilson for the first time. He stopped dead in his tracks.

“You! You killed Anna! Your mirakuru soldiers murdered her!” He was about to lunge at Slade when Felicity ran in front of him and put both arms on his shoulders.

“Ray stop! Please? You are entitled to feel exactly the way you do right now and I completely agree with you but he’s just helped save us and it’s a long and complicated story so can you please at least come back to the plane and hear me out before you do anything?” She flashed him a soothing look and gave his shoulders a squeeze. Ray took a few deep breaths, shot Slade another deathly glare, before squaring his shoulders and continued marching forward. 

“See what did I tell you kid? Unresolved feelings for the Blonde that one. Hey you want me to off Boy Scout for you Kid? I can do it quickly and quietly, the Blonde need never know,” Slade offered in a menacing yet eerily sincere tone.

“NO!” Oliver snapped, closing his eyes momentarily. Why oh why had his great reunion moment gone to hell.

***

It had been a long ordeal. They had managed to explain the Slade situation to Ray on the flight back to Star City. Ray had graciously understood their situation and had settled on glaring at Slade ferociously for the rest of the trip home. There appeared to be no love lost for Ray on Slade’s part either with the latter giving Ray equally nasty looks out of his one good eye. Felicity wondered what was going on there. Oliver seemed to be trying to placate Slade about something or other. 

Felicity decided she would endeavor to find out tomorrow. Right now what she needed was blissful, peaceful sleep. Ray had gone to crash at Curtis’s house and Thea had was staying with Lance. Samantha and William had been dropped off at an Argus safe house by the Diggles. They were moving back to Opal city over the next few days with Felicity to keep tabs on them once she was back up and running again. 

Felicity had just finished brushing her teeth for a third time, ready to roll into bed when she was pounced on by Oliver as she emerged from the bathroom. He swept her off her feet quite literally and carried her to the bed, depositing her on her back, on a stack of pillows. “Ooh what is this all about?” Felicity asked, smiling up at him.

“I don’t want to take it one step at a time. We’ve lost too much time and if we keep waiting who knows what’s going to happen. Marry me?” he asked, using his elbows to prop himself up as he gazed at her, heart eyes ablaze.

“Oliver what on earth are you talking about? We’ve just gotten back. Like just today!” Felicity looked at him quizzically.

“This entire year has been a pointless waste of time. Susan, Billy, it was all a big waste of time. Think of everything we could have done together this year. So marry me? Just say yes and marry me tomorrow!” He leaned in and rubbed noses with her, giving her that tender yet intense look she loved.

“Even if I said yes we would need time to organize a celebrant, a venue, a dress. My answer is yes but we really need time to organize Oliver. A month at least. It took me two weeks to organize your birthday party. We haven’t even had reunion sex yet!” Felicity pondered, ever the rational one. 

“I don’t care about the venue and the dress. We had that all last time and it went to hell. So let’s just get married.” He was grinning at her now with a stubborn look on his face. Clearly he was not going to let this idea go.

“But we don’t have a celebrant who can legally marry us,” Felicity protested. “We’d want the marriage to be legal if we’re going to do this for real.”

“Isn’t Ray qualified to marry people?” Oliver asked.

“Nooooo, we are not getting my ex to marry us,” Felicity’s eyes widened with horror.

“Come on Felicity, its been two years since you guys dated. You’ve both moved on. Let me just float the idea by him and see what he says? Ray is a good guy, he would want what’s best for you,” Oliver pleaded with her. “Besides he talks about some angry woman called Gertrude a lot. I think there’s some unresolved tension there.”

“Ooh yes I forgot about Gertrude. He does seem to have a complicated history with her. Moreso than with me. You may ask him but for goodness sakes be sensitive about it Oliver,” Felicity warned. 

She stopped and pondered for a few seconds before asking, “Speaking of Ray, why was Slade so nasty about him? You’d think he would be more contrite when facing the man whose fiancé he murdered. What was he whispering to you all that time on the plane?”

“He’s….he’s um enthused about us getting back together. He was worried that Ray is a threat. For some reason it makes Slade happy that we are a couple.”

“Are you telling me that Slade Wilson ships us?” Felicity asked, the very idea causing her to sit upright on the bed.

“Yeah I think so,” Oliver replied. “He’s always been weird but I think he now joins Curtis and Diggle in the line of people who ship us.”

“I am slightly disturbed by this but anything that makes him less ragey and murderous is a good thing,” Felicity mused thoughtfully. Suddenly a mischievous smile crossed her faced. “You do know we have one last hurdle right? But this one we can overcome pretty easily enough.” 

“What?” Oliver asked, looking adorably confused.

“We need to have reunion sex before we get married,” Felicity squealed as she jumped on him and proceeded to straddle him.


	3. The Perfect Year (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The eagerly awaited Olicity wedding takes place but is temporarily interrupted by a friendly intruder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!
> 
> Second part of the ridiculous prompt I received! Hope you enjoy!

“I pronounce you…” A portal seemingly appeared out of nowhere, interrupting Ray mid sentence. Oliver at once stepped in front of Felicity, shielding her with his body. Quentin drew out his gun and quickly pushed Thea behind him. John had drawn out his tranquilizer gun and Rene, Dinah and Curtis all took offensive stances.

“It’s just me! I’m harmless I swear,” a small figure dressed in tight black jeans and a green leather jacket shouted as she sprang out of the portal which instantly closed as she hit the ground. The girl had her hands covering her eyes, concealing half of her face. “Felicity are you guys decent? Can I uncover my eyes?” she called, still covering her face.

“What the hell,” John muttered, as he looked around in a daze, still pointing his tranquilizer gun at the little interloper. 

“John if that’s you I assume they are decent.” Their unexpected guest dropped her hand from her face and grinned at them happily. She was the spitting image of Felicity with the exception of her hair, which was a dark chestnut brown instead of blonde. However it still possessed it’s distinct untamed waves. 

“E2Felicity nice to meet you,” she beamed at them and extended a hand. Meanwhile the rest of the room continued to stare at her in shock. 

“Felicity,” Oliver murmured glancing over to his own Felicity and then her doppelgänger again.

“I guess I should give you guys the usual quick run down I normally give the others when I land on their earths. I’ve done this so many times, sometimes I forget what a shock it is for you when I land in front of you. No idea why this thing is configured to bring me straight to you Felicity, no matter where you are. That’s why I cover my eyes you know. A few times landing in on you and Oliver while you’re having sex has taught me that it’s just smarter to cover my eyes. Does that make me a prude I wonder? That I don’t want to see my doppelgänger have sex? Because we’re identical so it’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before. But you guys have a lot of sex. I’ve landed on 108 Earths and I swear twenty of them have been sex landings.”

“Can you please stop talking about them having sex and just explain yourself,” Thea pleaded, the horror of hearing about her brother’s sex life on multiple earths finally prompting her to speak.

“Sorry! I am from Earth 2, you can call me E2Felicity for ease if you like. That’s what I always tell the others to call me. I’m travelling between Earths for…well I’ll get into that later. Hey are you guys in the middle of getting married?” E2Felicity beamed at Oliver and Felicity pleasantly, her eyes shining with genuine happiness for them. 

“Yes but that can wait. Who are you and what are you doing here?” Felicity asked skeptically, ignoring a whine being emitted by Oliver. She surveyed her doppelgänger critically. She had a significant distrust for clones from other Earths since her one and only experience with Black Siren had not been a good one. Still this E2Felicity looked far too cheerful and straight forward to be a villain but then again that could just be her bias influencing her thinking. After all one probably liked to think the best of oneself or in this case, one’s doppelgänger. 

“Ooh Nice! Carry on! Don’t let me interrupt you! Oliver here looks like he’s going to cry if you don’t go through with this.” She gave Felicity a lopsided wink and added cheekily, “He’ll probably cry after you kiss him.”

Felicity could not help but let out a burst of giggles as her brunette twin grinned at her. She pats a mildly offended Oliver on the shoulder before turning to Ray who was still staring at E2 Felicity with a fascinated expression on his face. 

“Ray would you continue,” Felicity tilted her head, trying to capture his attention. Ray blinked a few times before dragging his eyes away from E2Felicity. “Just continue from where you left off,” Felicity instructed him gently.

“I now pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may kiss the bride.” As soon as the words were uttered Oliver pulled Felicity towards him and proceeded to kiss her senseless. Nothing, not even the presence of his new wife’s doppelganger could take away from this moment that he had been yearning for over the last few years. 

*** 

“Did you get on the boat with him?” E2Felicity asked as she sat on Felicity and Oliver’s couch in the loft, tucking happily into the canapés that had been ordered for the little ceremony. The gang were all crowded around her, with the exception of Ray who was sitting next to her and staring. “I’m taking that as a no since you’re all looking at me like I’m crazy. Damn I must be the Felicity with the most questionable judgment out there to have gotten on that boat.”

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Oliver asked, his free hand reaching out for her shoulder, despite his other hand being firmly wound around Felicity’s waist. He stopped himself just in time and shifted nervously, shooting Felicity an apologetic look.

“Don’t worry I’m not judging you. Seems like you are attracted to every version of me Mr. Queen,” Felicity whispered into his ear. 

“Am NOT attracted to her,” Oliver whispered back, defensively. “It’s…it’s like an instinct.”

“Oh were you going to reach over and touch me?” E2Felicity asked in a matter of fact tone. “Yeah don’t beat yourself up about it, you can’t fight what’s in your nature. Most of you, well not you specifically, I meant all the versions of you, Oliver Queen, end up with my doppelgängers on almost every earth. Like I said I’ve been through 108 so far and on 88 of them you guys are together. There must be something about us that draws him in isn’t there Felicity?” She shot Felicity a knowing look, the latter suddenly blushing furiously at the very odd situation that was taking place.

E2Felicity looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing. “There was one Earth, one of my favourites actually, I promised them I’d return one day when I’m done. Earth 59, where that Oliver was completely unaffected by me. Granted he and his Felicity had three sets of twins so they just wanted to palm some of the kids off to me and spend time alone together. I stayed with them for a month. Poor bastards. Could never work out why they had half a dozen kids and all of them twins.”

“You were going to tell us why you came here,” Oliver interrupted, having first hand knowledge of what Felicity was like when she was on a roll. Evidently E2Felicity was the same.

“On Earth2 I was an intern at Queens Consolidated. Oliver and I met when he needed help getting ITunes to work on his phone. We became friends; he was supposed to move in with Laurel but broke up with her and asked me to go on the Queens Gambit with him instead. I’m normally such a risk adverse girl I don’t know what came over me. I said yes and……” she trailed off, tears forming in her eyes suddenly.

“You were shipwrecked on Lian Yu,” Oliver finished for her softly. “What happened then?”

“I was saved by the League of Assassins. I begged Ra’s to let me come back and look for Oliver but I never found him or his body.”

“You were forced to join the League of Assassins?” Felicity asked, eyes wide as she took E2Felicity’s hands and gave them a squeeze.

“I worked for them as a hacker. They taught me how to fight but I was never going to be like the rest of them. I was useful as a hacker though.” She paused for a moment and glanced at the entire room, all of whom were giving her sympathetic looks. 

“It’s ok guys, it wasn’t all bad. I met Digg there. He was another assassin and he sort of adopted me. Treated me like his own sister. Digg and I used to sit and dream of what we would do if we left the League and how we would atone for the questionable things we’d done while we were there.”

“Digg…are you talking about me?” John asked incredulously. “I was an assassin? I was in the frigging League of Assassins?”

“You were the very best,” E2Felicity smiled at him fondly, her soft spot for him evident. “And you were the best big brother a girl could ask for. You were the one who found me on Lian Yu. I’m not sure how I would have fared if it weren’t for you.” Suddenly E2Felicity hopped off the couch and launched herself at John. “I’ve missed you so much. You’re not like my Digg but he used to give me the same face whenever I suggested something outlandish to him.” She let go of him and sat back on the couch, leaving John looking like he was going to pass out any minute.

“What happened to you? How did you end up here?” Felicity urged E2Felicity to continue. This was by far the most intriguing mystery she had ever been faced with and it had everything to do with her doppelganger.

“Once you join the League you can never escape,” E2Felicity explained.

“They appear to be consistent about that on every Earth,” Felicity muttered. 

“Well during one mission I managed to get my hands on technology that would let us travel between multiple Earths. Ra’s wanted it for himself but I got to it first. There was a big battle and in my desperation to save Digg I opened the portal and pushed him into it. I wasn’t as familiar with controlling the device back then so that portal closed and I sent myself through another portal. I never saw Digg again,” she finished sadly, blinking back tears.

“And so you’ve been jumping from Earth to Earth looking for me. Other me. Your Digg,” John finished for her.

“Yeah my Digg,” E2Felicity gave him a watery smile. “There are an infinite number of Earths so goodness knows when I’ll find him again. But I’m going to keep trying. I…I just need to know that he’s safe and well. Or at least find out what happened to him so I can get closure.”

“Isn’t it highly likely that he is perfectly fine and setting up his new life wherever he is?” John asked her gently. “Would your Digg really want you to jump from Earth to Earth looking for him? He’d want you to settle somewhere, have a real life and be happy.”

“That’s what my Digg would have said,” E2Felicity smiled sadly. “I just…I have to do this you know?”

“I understand you,” Felicity responded, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

“Enough of me feeling sorry for myself,” E2Felicity wiped her eyes and looked at them. “Like I said I’m not here for long. From talking to you guys it’s obvious that my Digg is not here. I’m just going to run a few searches and then I’ll be off on my way.” 

“Why don’t you at least stay for a while?” Felicity offered. “No need to rush off so soon. We could all take a look at your device and see if we can, oh I don’t know, get a log of all the portals it’s opened or something. Surely there must be a way to get a more accurate information than you jumping randomly from earth to earth.”

“I don’t think so,” E2Felicity replied. “I’ve tried to tinker with it heaps trust me.”

“I could take a look at it with you,” Ray offered shyly. This was the first time he had addressed E2Felicity. “I built the Atom Suit, I’m pretty good with gadgets.”

“I know you are Ray. Where do you think I got this technology from in the first place?” E2Felicity smiled at him sheepishly with the air of someone whose hand had been caught in the cookie jar. “For what it’s worth I didn’t know you and I was a member of the League of Assassins.”

“You stole from me?” Ray demanded indignantly, momentarily forgetting that he had previously been fascinated with her.

“Stealing is such an ugly word. More like borrowed? And E2 you did find out about it eventually.”

“Why don’t you go to E2Ray and just ask for help configuring this thing if he was the one who invented it?” Ray asked. 

“I did and he was very nice about it,” E2Felicity responded. “I managed to configure the device to get me back to Earth 2 so I could track down the Ray Palmer there. But even he couldn’t work it out. He got it to the point where I could control where I was going and tick off the coordinates I’d been to but not so that I could find out which portal that very first one was.”

“So we’ve met? We get along? Do we know each other on other Earths?” Ray asked excitedly. 

“Of course we’ve met,” E2Felicity replied as if it were the most obvious question in the world. “We’re married on 10 of the 108 Earths I’ve been to. Well not us, other versions of us.”

“Married? MARRIED? Felicity marries Palmer?” Oliver’s jaw dropped, opening and closing like that of a fish. Felicity rubbed his chest in an attempt to placate him. 

“Yes there is a rare occasion where you and your Felicity don’t meet or you die on the Gambit before you guys meet. She’s usually married to Ray on those Earths.” E2Felicity shrugged wondering what the fuss was about. Suddenly she stopped; a wicked smile spread across her face. “Oh. My. God. Don’t tell me you guys had a love triangle on this Earth? Actually that’s nothing new, same thing happened on Earths 45 and 987.” 

She turned to look at Ray. “They asked you to marry them? That’s a bit rude and awkward.”

“He’s seeing some woman named Gertrude!” Felicity protested, feeling uncomfortable that they had once again treated Ray badly.

“Huh?” Ray stared at her, looking flabbergasted. “You thought I was seeing someone called Gertrude? Gertrude is a dinosaur! Literally a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Like this! Roaaaarrrrrr.” Ray stuck out his hands as if they were claws and did a marvelous impression of a dinosaur.

“Ooh you are just too cute,” E2Felicity gave him a pat on the back and burst into a peal of giggles.

“So will you stay for a bit?” Felicity addressed her doppelgänger once E2Felicity had sufficiently recovered. Ray had settled next to her with a dopey grin on his face. Clearly he was enjoying being able to make E2Felicity laugh. 

“Not here,” E2Felicity answered. “You guys just got married! How will you have all that sex you are so fond of with me hanging around.” Everyone winced as the words left her mouth and she glanced around apologetically. “Sorry! I have landed on them having sex so many times I assume that’s all they do.”

“You could stay with me at Curtis’s place if he doesn’t mind?” Ray offered tentatively, shooting Curtis a pleading look. “I could take a look at the device and tomorrow I can contact the guys on the Wave Rider to pick us up. Gideon our ship’s computer can also try to help. At least try something new before you beam off to another Earth again.” He inched closer towards E2Felicity and gazed at her hopefully like an eager puppy. 

“Sure! Always happy to house any version of Felicity,” Curtis answered good-naturedly.

“Will you?” Ray asked again, looking like he was going to burst out of his skin from sheer excitement.

“Only if you promise to tell me more about Gertrude,” E2Felicity beamed at him. “And only if you answer this question for me.”

“What’s the question?”

“SG1 or Atlantis?” E2Felicity asked him gravely establishing that there would be no hope for them if Ray gave the wrong answer.

“Well I don’t know about your Earth but it’s always been SG1 for me.”

“Then I think we’re going to get along just fine Ray,” E2Felicity smiled and linked her arm through his.

“Do you not find this disturbing?” Oliver whispered to Felicity as they watched her doppelgänger flirt shamelessly with Ray.

“Very much so. My ex and my doppelgänger,” Felicity shuddered. “Come on let’s leave them here to their awkward flirting and go to our bedroom. We will find ways to make each other forget this ever happened.” Felicity grabbed Oliver’s arm firmly and led him away.

Meanwhile John had found an armchair to sink into as he mumbled to himself for what must have been the hundredth time, “I was in the League of Assassins????”


	4. Once Upon A Dream (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Olicity meet cute (hopefully!) in an alternate universe.
> 
> ***This now has a sequel! See chapter 6 for Part 2!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this idea and simply had to write it! It was written very quickly and it's late so please excuse any errors!
> 
> This is what I imagine Felicity sounds like:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXbHShUnwxY

It was one of those mornings, another unremarkable day in what was shaping out to be an equally unremarkable year. Oliver strode into Verdant feeling like he was stuck in a loop. To anyone on the outside looking in, it seemed like he had it all. Doting parents, an extensive trust fund, a feisty little sister whom he adored and although it had taken a long time to finally get there, a thriving business which he enjoyed operating. Still now in his early thirties, Oliver wondered if this was as good as it was going to get. Sometimes Oliver felt like he was having an early mid life crisis. He loved his family and friends, was proud of his successful business, yet he was well aware that his life distinctly lacked color, vibrancy and joy.

Tommy had crudely offered his unwelcome two cents, as he always did, citing that the reason for Oliver’s crisis was the fact that he hadn’t gotten laid in well over six months despite owning the hottest nightclub in Starling City. Sometimes he wondered if Tommy had a point. He certainly wasn’t lacking in opportunities or offers but Oliver truly felt that those days were far behind him. All the women he met were the same, their faces all-blurring into each other. He wanted something else. He didn’t want to be in lust, to have a quick meaningless f#ck that would temporarily satisfy an urge and then repeat the same cycle over and over again. For once in his life Oliver wanted to feel giddy about someone. Of course all this was ridiculous when he actually thought about it. He wasn’t the type to feel giddy. He had been loved by and possibly loved a rare few women in his day but he did not do giddy.

Letting out one last sigh and vowing to shake off his broody mood, Oliver headed into his office. John had texted earlier to warn him that Smoak Technologies, the IT consultancy company they had hired was sending a consultant over to upgrade all their computers and accounting systems. Someone by the name of Cisco Ramon was due to start with Oliver’s office computer before working on Verdant’s systems. Security of any type was John’s domain and Oliver had intended to make himself known to the consultant in case they had any questions, before sitting down to go through his paperwork.

***

_I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream_

_I know you, that look in your eyes is so familiar a gleam_

_And I know it's true that visions are seldom all they seem_

_But if I know you, I know what you'll do_

_You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream_

 

The voice was sweet, melodic and rang out like a clear bell in his office. Oliver was familiar with the song, having sat through the Sleeping Beauty movie and just about every other Disney princess movie with Thea at least ten times before. He hadn’t heard that song for years and hadn’t imagined any situation where he’d be hearing that song again. 

Oliver stopped and let out a gasp, his heart beating rapidly for no good reason. There was certainly no threat, the person, girl whoever she was, was singing a Disney song for goodness sakes. He chastised himself to get a grip and approached the source of singing, which was coming from, underneath his desk.

The singer was oblivious to his presence, having now moved onto merrily humming the tune. Oliver glanced down and felt his breath hitched as he noticed a pair of slim, toned and entirely too sexy for Disney, legs stuck out from under his desk, kicking and swaying around in time with the tune being hummed. No one with legs like that should have such a sweet and charming voice. For a moment he considered saying nothing and just enjoying the show and the view but he was no longer the playboy of yesteryear and there was a part of him that was absolutely desperate to make a good impression on the owner of the angelic voice and sinful legs.

“Cisco Ramon?” he asked gingerly with an air of nervousness and excitement that he hadn’t felt in such a long time. For some reason he felt like he had a world of expectations hinged on the next few moments, yet there was a serene part of him that told him no matter what, he was not going to be disappointed by this encounter.

“Oh hello there,” a cheerful voice rang out, as the owner of Disney Princess voice shuffled out from under the desk and stood up to greet him. “Felicity Smoak, not Cisco Ramon, I hope you’re not too upset. Cisco had some personal matters he had to attend to suddenly this morning so I popped in to upgrade your systems instead. I’m his boss, the owner of Smoak Technologies by the way so really you’re getting a great bang for your buck.”

Felicity winced as the last sentence left her mouth. That idiom didn’t sound quite right. Curse her for her inappropriate use of idioms but really the drool worthy handsome client had caught her off guard when he materialized like a ninja out of nowhere, while she had been singing Disney songs to her heart’s content no less.

Oliver’s face broke into a smile as he found himself face to face with the little sunbeam that had been missing all his life. Said sunbeam was wearing an emerald green pencil skirt, showcasing a delectable derrière, the best he had ever laid eyes on and a white blouse with a little bow on it’s collar. She had the sexy librarian thing down pat, except that she was bubbly, her eyes twinkling and full of spirit. At a teeny tiny five foot five inches or so she was petite, her little elfin face, framed by a mass of slightly untamed curly hair that was as charming it’s owner.

“A great bang?” Oliver raised his eyebrows, flashing her an amused smirk, his heart going berserk again as she flushed bright pink, her big aquamarine eyes going wide behind her black framed glasses.

“NO banging! There will be no banging whatsoever, although I’m sure you would be a great bang seeing as you look the way you do. Oh my god did I just sexually harass a new client. Did I just say the words sexually harass? And I will stop speaking in 3, 2, 1.”

She slammed her eyes shut for a second before opening them abruptly again to offer him a soft small hand as she smiled at him appealingly, having seemingly recovered from whatever nerves she was experiencing. “Felicity Smoak, Smoak Technologies at your service Mr. Queen. Mr Diggle signed us last week and I can assure you that our cyber security systems are second to none. We’re so pleased to have you sign with us and let me assure you there is no IT problem that is too big or too small for us. We are a small full service company aimed at fulfilling all your needs.”

“Fulfilling all my needs?” he teased, not unkindly, taking the hand she had offered him. To his surprise for such a tiny little person, she had a solid grip and a very firm handshake.

“All of your IT needs Mr. Queen,” she grinned at him, ignoring his attempt to wind her up. Normally Felicity would not take kindly to anyone poking fun at Smoak Technologies, her baby, but his devastating blue eyes had a hint of mirth in them and they had crinkled at the corners so appealingly and kindly, she was certain he meant no ill will. However she could not resist tilting her head to gaze at him before and adding slyly in a whispery voice, “Anything more would be unprofessional.”

Felicity stifled a laugh as she watched him stare at her, looking a little lost. Clearly after her earlier babbling he didn’t think she could give as good as she got. She had heard various stories about the infamous Oliver Queen over the years and had not paid any mind to them. When and where would she ever cross paths with Oliver Queen? It was none of her business what the rich got up to in their spare time.

Still she had been thrilled when John Diggle, Verdant’s head of security had signed her company to take care of Verdant’s computing systems. Although she did not much care about Oliver Queen’s personal life and past, she did know that Verdant was the hottest and most profitable club in Starling (Felicity made it a priority to privately “check out” the financial situation of any clients she signed, lest they fail to pay up on their invoices, a mistake she had learned from in the very early days of setting up her business). There was talk that he was looking to expand beyond Verdant and a client like that was a big fish for her little company to land. Besides it appeared that Verdant was not a business which quibbled over fees and charges. She had slugged them with a hefty (but fair) fee structure. Handsome Adonis or not, a girl had to eat and grow her little empire.

“I’ve finished with your computer in here. Whoever set up your previous system should be shot! Unnecessary wires and cables everywhere. I’m going to install our security software on all your other machines now and then give you and Mr. Diggle a run through of it when he arrives. We also offer a free staff training session so when you’re ready to gather all your staff, you can call book us in and either Cisco or myself will come over and train your staff for you as well.”

She smiled a bright, friendly smile at him and tucked a business card into his hand before walking off to seek out the next computer to work on, leaving Oliver feeling a little dazed as he tried to gather his bearings. That little innocuous encounter had affected him deeply and suddenly Oliver felt alive again. He wasn’t having a midlife crisis. He had just been waiting for this adorable vivacious creature and now he had finally found her.

With a spring in his step Oliver made a mental note to ask her to lunch when she was done. He was going to keep it casual, ask her if she was peckish and lead her to the kitchen on the side where they prepared Verdant’s small bites. Then he himself would whip her up a quick lunch. He totally had this under control.

*** 

John Diggle rolled his eyes and huffed in disbelief as Oliver asked one obtuse question after another in the hopes of prolonging his interaction with their new IT consultant. Apparently Cisco Ramon could not make it and in walked one Felicity Smoak who unbeknownst to her was wreaking havoc with Oliver Queen’s heart.

“So the orange alert means that I should ring you up right away?” Oliver asked looking hopeful and praying that someone would hack their systems soon. Anything to see Felicity again.

“Nono you don’t need to do anything. I’m just explaining what you need to do if you want an overview on what the program is monitoring. We scan your systems constantly on our end and if there is any threat we will log in remotely and obliterate the threat ourselves.” She had been explaining the new system to him for a good hour and Felicity could simply not understand why he had so much trouble with it. He was clearly an intelligent man and one does not run a successful business like Verdant by being stupid so Felicity found herself at a loss as to why they seemed to be going around in circles. 

“Put it this way Oliver, aside from running a training session with your staff, you need never see us again, unless you need a physical upgrade of your systems. Everything can be done online. That’s one of the core elements of how we add value to your business. No need to waste your time scheduling in live meetings with us, no need to waste your time or your staff’s time waiting around to accommodate us as we troubleshoot your systems. After today everything will be done automatically.” Felicity smiled at both men, clearly very proud of her business model.

“So when would I see you again?” Oliver blurted out with a slight wail in his voice, causing John to face palm himself silently while rolling his eyes.

Felicity blinked, peering at her handsome new client rather confusedly. If she wasn’t lil old Felicity Smoak and he wasn’t Oliver Queen, dashing billionaire, man about town, she would suspect that he wanted to see her again for non-business related purposes. There was something about the way in which he was looking at her, that vaguely reminded her of the heart eyes portrayed in the cartoons she used to watch when she was little. Still they were who they were, and she wasn’t going to dwell on any fanciful notions of Oliver Queen harboring some sort of crush on her after only interacting with her for a few hours.

“As I said before we try to offer any number of IT services to our clients so if you have trouble with any of your computers, smart phones, heck even your home computer system, please feel free to ring us and either Cisco or myself will come out to assist you.”

“You mean if my Iphone stops working you’ll help me?” Oliver asked, perking up, an idea brewing in his head. Diggle saw the hopeful spark that crossed Oliver’s face and proceeded to shake his head disapprovingly, shooting him a warning look.

“Yeeees we can but keep in mind you should read your Fees and Charges Agreement that you signed with us. At the hourly rate that we’re charging you’re better off bringing your phone to Tech Village if you have a problem with it. Happy to help though if you feel like you need our services.”

She wondered why on earth anyone would want to pay her rates to debug their iPhone but Felicity wasn’t going to say no if he wanted to give her business more work. She supposed it must be a rich people thing, not wanting to line up at Tech Village with the common plebs. Still Oliver Queen had been lovely to her and had even made her a delicious fancy croque monsieur for lunch. He was also extremely easy on the eye. She did not find the prospect of working closely with him objectionable at all, quite the opposite in fact.

She powered down her laptop and gathered her briefcase, which was filled with tools. Before heading out she shook their hands warmly. “It’s been great meeting both of you and thank you for lunch Oliver. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.”

With that Felicity Smoak floated out of the door, leaving a smitten Oliver Queen staring at her long after she had vanished from view.

“I like her John! You made a good call hiring her firm.”

“Ya don’t say,” John muttered as shook his head at the infatuated fool standing next to him.

*** 

Oliver felt absurd as the butterflies fluttered in his stomach nervously. He wondered if he was going crazy. Still he hadn’t ever felt like this his whole life and he owed it to himself to explore this feeling. Or the alternative was that maybe he had just lost his mind. Surely there were better ways to garner a girl’s attention than this. Still she wasn’t just any ordinary girl and in order to win over a remarkable girl like that one needed to take drastic measures. Glancing around nervously as if he were about to commit a crime, Oliver dropped his iPhone into an extra large latte before reaching for his office landline to dial Felicity’s number.

  

 


	5. Thank You in Advance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thea Queen is adamant that Oliver is not getting any younger and needs to find The One. Fortunately luck smiles down on Oliver when he has a run in with an adorable Felicity Smoak at Starling Ice Skating rink.
> 
> Another Olicity meet cute AU because I just cannot help myself these days!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! 
> 
> New one shot that has been plaguing me until I sat down to write it! Pure fluffy goodness!

Oliver glared at his surroundings and attempted to bite back another complaint that was on the cusp of his tongue. He tried to make his expression as pleasant as possible. He figured he owed it to Thea to at least try and be a good sport about this, after all he did tell her that she could pick any sibling bonding activity she wanted and he would indulge her. He thought they would watch a movie together, maybe go for ice cream, or since she was all grown up now (well not really, she was always going to be his baby sister) they would go for drinks.

But noooo, evidently during the last few years when he had decided to grow up and take life seriously, which meant spending most of his time slogging away at Queens Consolidated, Thea had apparently developed a few sporting hobbies. One of which was ice-skating. Which was why Oliver now found himself in his own special hell, wearing a pair of rented skates (god knows whose feet have been in those) all while trying to muster up as much enthusiasm as he could to show Thea how important she was to him.

“Oh Ollie stop gritting your teeth, you did say we could do any activity I wanted,” Thea swatted him good-naturedly. “I don’t know why you’re so against ice skating. Remember how we used to go every week and race each other and then you’d buy me a hot chocolate afterwards?”

Oliver smiled at the memory. He did remember and it was one of the happier memories of his childhood, before he went off the rails with the booze, drugs and partying. Perhaps ice-skating will not be so bad after all. If Thea wanted to keep this up he would even take time out to buy himself a new pair of skates. That would improve his mood drastically because the thought of sharing a pair of footwear with a hundred other people was extremely gross and off-putting.

“I’m warming up to it, pun intended,” he grinned at Thea who rolled her eyes at her dorky brother in disbelief as they headed out to the ice. They were both beautiful skaters, having taken private skating lessons where they were young and soon the siblings were gliding around with ease, engaging in a bit of people watching in the process.

“You know Ollie there are a lot of girls here,” Thea observed thoughtfully. “Very good looking girls, most of whom are age appropriate for you.”

Oliver groaned out loud. He knew where this was headed. Ever since his disastrous fling with Susan Williams, a journalist whom Thea despised, Thea had been on his case to find someone decent (preferably a human being and not a nasty insect were Thea’s exact words). Thea, ever spirited and sporting a wicked sense of humor would grab her own throat and pretend to vomit and choke on her own vomit every time Susan was mentioned. Later on she graduated to pretending she had to run off and throw up whenever she was in Susan’s presence. 

“Don’t carry on so Ollie! You’re not getting any younger you know!” his sister admonished him, doing a marvelous job of channeling Moira Queen. No wonder his mother had been off his case recently. She didn’t need to be the one nagging when she could just send her mini me after him.

“God why do you sound exactly like Mom?”

“Someone has to set you on the right path Ollie.” The skating rink was huge and they were now onto their third lap. It was going to be a long night of her nagging and heckling him.

“I am on the right path. I’ve been working hard at QC and last I checked the board is happy with me and we even managed to fight off a hostile takeover by Stellmore International. I’m hurt that you think I’m off the rails Speedy.” He feigned a hurt expression hoping to get her off his case. Thea might be able to channel Moira perfectly but she lacked his mother’s subtlety and the ability to retreat and let things go. Thea was teeny tiny but she often charged ahead like a steamroller, never stopping or giving up.  

“You know I’m talking about your romantic relationships Ollie. Thirty-two years old and you’ve never had a successful relationship like ever!”

“That’s just not true Speedy! I’ve had some very serious relationships,” he replied indignantly.

“Let’s revisit your greatest hits Ollie. Helena was crazy, like literally crazy, McKenna you dated while she was training to be a cop and you were as high as a kite on drugs in your spare time, Susan was just plain evil and tried to commit corporate espionage, ugh I’m not going to even go there! Laurel I actually liked but you didn’t like her enough apparently so you slept with her sister and that blew up spectacularly.”

When Thea put it like that it did sound brutal. Maybe he had been looking at his old relationships through rose tinted glasses. The ones Thea had just listed certainly sounded like a bunch of hot messes.

“You need to find _The One_ Ollie. And I know you can’t just will The One up to order but hiding away at QC all day and night is not going to land you the perfect future Mrs. Queen.”

“And so your solution is to go and find The One at Starling Ice Skating Rink?” Oliver asked drily. He made a show of glancing around exaggeratedly, about to roll his eyes at Thea for dramatic effect when suddenly he spotted a vibrant mass of bright pink across the rink.

The girl was wearing one of the cutest outfits he had ever seen anyone wear out ice-skating. Black stockings with a teeny tiny flared black leather skirt and a shocking pink cropped jacket, that cinched in her waist, showing off her curves in all the right places. He wavy blond hair was tucked into a bright pink beanie. However what attracted Oliver’s eye was the fact that she had a pair of big fluffy cream earmuffs jammed onto her ears, on top of her beanie. Apparently the little cutie suffered from cold ears. She was talking and gesticulating wildly to a tall lanky fellow, wearing a bright red jacket.

“Weren’t you just berating me a minute ago for dragging you ice skating before you laid eyes on that adorable girl you’re obviously drooling over Ollie?” Thea smiled smugly, pulling him to a stop as they both now watched the girl in question. Oliver was sporting a somewhat charmed smile and as for Thea, well Thea just looked excited and smug.

“She probably has a boyfriend, that guy in the red,” he responded, his face falling. There was a very warm and close camaraderie between Cute Pink girl and that boy in the garish red. Besides there was no way anyone, let alone Lanky Red would pass up a chance to date a girl like that.

“Nope! Looks like it’s your lucky day Ollie! That’s the girlfriend right there!” Thea pointed gleefully to a tall pretty girl in black skinny jeans and a jacket matching Lanky Red’s jacket who glided up to Lanky Red and kissed him on the lips. Cutie Pink was once again gesticulating wildly and pouting adorably before Cool Girl Red and Lanky Red both grabbed one of her arms each and led her around the ice.

“Ollie!!!!” Thea screeched excitedly, “She can’t skate! Go up to her and offer to hold her hand!”

“I…I can’t,” Oliver replied still staring at Cutie Pink who was wobbling along unsteadily, occasionally squeezing her eyes shut as her friends dragged her around the ice.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Thea gazed up at the heavens praying for them to grant her the patience to deal with her brother. “You’re staring at her so don’t give me some bullshit about not liking her.”

“I can’t just walk up to someone who is having a night out with their friends and invade just because I think the girl is cute.”

“HA! I knew it!!!!! You think she’s cuuuuuute,” Thea sang delightedly. “Oh come on Ollie, you used to hit on bimbos all the time, anytime. Just go up to the cute girl and offer to skate with her.”

“No!”

“What do you mean no?” Thea narrowed her eyes and gave him a sharp look, suddenly channeling their mother out of nowhere.

“I don’t know! Can you get off my case Speedy! Yes you’ve caught me! I think she’s adorable! But I don’t know the first thing about her. Let me watch her in peace for a bit and I promise I’ll work up the courage to try something soon.”

Thea had never seen Oliver look so thunderstruck before. Charmed and panicked. It was a new and interesting look on her brother. She felt a bit sorry for him. “Look Ollie I know we just had discussion about The One and I’m not saying she’s The One but I haven’t seen you look at anyone like that in….forever! You have to try and talk to her at least!”

“Give me space Speedy!!! I’m going to do a lap to clear my head and then if she’s not busy with her friends I might, MIGHT try to speak to her!”

Upon hearing this statement, Thea bounced on her skates and clapped her hands together.

“Stop acting like that Speedy,” Oliver glared at his sister who was now doing figure eights on the ice happily.

***

Cheer up they said, get to know Starling they said, we’ve done research and will show you the best Starling has to offer they said. Felicity cursed her friends as they ignored her pleas to retire to the bench and dragged her around the ice for yet another loop. She knew Barry and Iris meant well but really this was the absolute worse outing she had ever been on, EVER.

She was freezing, her ears were stupidly cold and she skated with the finesse of an over weight elephant while Barry and Iris glided around gracefully, hauling her with them like an uncooperative animal they had hunted down and were dragging home. Not that Barry and Iris were violent people who hunted, far from it. But their over enthusiastic attempts to make her feel less homesick for Central City and the activity they picked tonight was just downright cruel. 

Since when did they think that she, Felicity Smoak who only did five sit ups on a good day, would enjoy flailing around the cold, slippery ice in a cute outfit that was sadly not practical for the purposes of warding off the cold. To top it off she was wearing rented skates! It was the grossest thing ever. Who knew where all those feet had been or what they had growing on them. The sheer thought of it made Felicity want to yell with terror. 

“Guys I’ve had enough! Let’s go back to my house for hot cocoa! No more of this,” she pleaded, dragging her weight in protest, making it more difficult for Barry and Iris to haul her along.

“Just few more rounds Felicity,” Iris urged cheerfully. “You’re getting the hang of it! We’ll make a skater out of you yet.” 

“You keep saying that and it never ends,” Felicity screeched, eyes wide. “No more! I refuse! Put me back on the wall near the exit and I’m going to watch you from the bench until you guys are ready to leave.”

“What you need Felicity is to try this out on your own,” Barry announced cheerfully. Iris looked thoughtful for a second and then nodded enthusiastically in agreement. “We’ve shown you the basics, but you’re just bored because you’re stuck to us and not trying to balance on you own. You push off by yourself like we taught you and you’ll find yourself enjoying it.”

“No!” Felicity yelped. “Barry Allen are you suggesting that I skate by myself? I don’t want to skate! I don’t care that I can’t skate! I want to go back to the bench!” Really if she had enough coordination to stamp her foot on ice she would. Alas no such luck, or balance it seems.

“Sweetie don’t worry, we’ll be right behind you keeping an eye on you I promise,” Iris soothed. She had faith in Felicity who really could do anything once she put her mind to it. Iris felt like a proud parent, convincing their child to abandon training wheels for the first time.

Before Felicity could protest a pair of hands (she was going to work out whose hands they belonged to and kill them after this, or kill them both since it was probably both of them!) gave her a little push out onto the ice.

“Eeeeeeep,” Felicity yelled, garnering curious looks from her fellow skaters.

To her complete and utter surprise she did not land face first into the ice. Far from it! She was gliding, push and push and wheeeeeeeeeee. She too was gliding just like everybody else. Maybe Barry and Iris had a point! This _was_ fun! Felicity turned and waved cheerfully at her friends, giving them double thumbs up and motioning for them to go off and do their own thing. She didn’t need to be a third wheel on ice anymore. She could skate. She felt graceful. She was Michelle Kwan. She was…losing control.

Oh how quickly things turned. One minute she was gliding along with the grace of a gazelle, the next she was back to being a flat footed goat as she could feel her feet slide around from under her. Momentarily forgetting what she was supposed to do with her feet in order to brake, Felicity did the only thing that any rational person with great survival instincts would do. She grabbed onto the first person that crossed her path. She just held out her hands and….hugged…tightly. 

Then she screamed bloody murder as she and the poor victim she grabbed careened towards the edge. Felicity braced herself for impact and a spectacular crash that never took place. Instead the poor person she assaulted had managed to brake and hold her steady at the same time, resulting in a very low impact stop where only her face was smushed against a hard muscular chest.

“Muscular chest, no boobs, must be male,” she muttered as she scrambled to get her bearings. “Although you could still have boobs and be male. Man boobs. Not that I’m saying you have man boobs because that’s just a rude thing to say to someone who saved me from crashing into the wall and possibly losing my front teeth. I really value my front teeth. I’ve got this fear of losing teeth. They are incredibly valuable when you think about it. Two sets only and one set has to last you for decades.” Felicity winced at the words flying freely out of her mouth and attempted to snap herself out of her funk in order to apologize to her unwitting savior on ice. She looked up and let out a startled shriek. Oh my god. He was hot! Not just good looking hot but like Greek God hooooot. He was totally going to think that she grabbed onto him on purpose.

If there ever was a time when Felicity prayed that her brain to mouth filter would work it was right now.

“I didn’t grab onto you because you are a fine specimen of a man,” she blurted out. Okay that was bad but could have been worse she frowned. A lot worse. Knowing her brain she could be propositioning him right now.

“I’ve never been propositioned at an ice rink before.” His blue eyes crinkled attractively as he grinned at her. It was a friendly teasing grin, indicating that he was not mad about her crash tackle at all.

Under any other circumstances Felicity would have swooned. Alas right now she was just mortified. Too mortified to swoon. And now she was wondering if she had said that out loud as well. He was looking…charmed. She wasn’t sure what that was all about. Felicity didn’t realize that she was looking rather enchanting with her baby blue eyes as wide as saucers and her mouth adorably pouty as she tried to form a coherent apology.

“What I meant was that in my desperate attempt to not fall down, I grabbed onto the first person/thing that was in my path and that happened to be you. But lucky for me you apparently have the skills of Alexei Yagudin and managed to stop backwards. So thank you for saving me from crashing and saving my front teeth.”

Felicity paused to take a breath. So far, so good. “And I am very sorry for grabbing onto you. I was panicking and reaching out to grab at something, anything, seemed like a good idea.”

She gave him a dignified little nod and clamped her lips shut, not realizing that with every word spoken, every action, she was reeling him in even further. Her rescuer didn’t say anything yet, however Felicity took comfort in the fact that he was beaming at her. Surely you didn’t beam at someone if you were mad at them right? 

“I see you’re quite the hero tonight Ollie,” a stylish and petite brunette glided up to them. Before Felicity had a chance to react the brunette extended her hand cheerfully. “Thea Queen! And this is my brother Oliver Queen who just saved you from crashing into that barrier.”

“Felicity Smoak, I err grabbed your brother by accident in a bid to save myself.” Thea appeared to be quite unfazed by this and shook hands vigorously with Felicity.

As soon as Thea let her hand go, Felicity found her hand being held by Oliver’s big warm one as he smiled shyly at her. “Very nice to meet you Felicity even if it was under unique circumstances.”

Felicity, whose face and head had been freezing all night (hence the extra ear muffs) suddenly felt her cheeks growing very very warm. “Thank you again for saving me. I’ve learned my lesson now. No more free gliding for me. I’m just going to hold onto this trusty wall and pull myself back to the bench. It was nice meeting you both Oliver and Thea. Oliver thank you again for not going Grrrr at me for grabbing you.”

She actually made a growling noise and growly face that resembled that of a disgruntled tiger cub. For a minute it crossed Oliver’s mind that maybe he should just propose right then and there. He was never going to meet anyone so utterly winsome ever again. 

“We’ll both take you to the bench,” Thea muscled her way in smoothly, grabbing Felicity’s arm before the latter could protest. Oliver took his sister’s lead and moved over to grab Felicity’s other hand. Moments like these he was so thankful for his little sister’s pushy and overbearing qualities. He was going to buy her a gift after this. Actually once this all works out he’ll feign dumb-male-who-can’t-shop and ask Felicity to go shopping with him to pick a gift for Thea. That was a cozy, datey activity, that wasn’t too stressful for a new couple just seeing each other. Oliver could feel himself grinning as they escorted Felicity back to the bench.

***

“So why didn’t your boyfriend come along to hold your hand on the ice if you’re a beginner?” Thea quizzed Felicity once they had retrieved their belongings and settled on an empty bench to take off their skates. 

“Boyfriend?” Felicity echoed, startled by the sudden and very upfront question. “I don’t have a boyfriend. I don’t even have friends in Starling much less a boyfriend. I just moved here from Central City a month ago. I’ve been a bit homesick and the gang have been taking turns coming up here to cheer me up. Tonight was a tour of Starling Ice Rink.”

Thea positively beamed at Felicity’s response and it was all the Queen siblings could do to keep themselves from high fiving each other.

Felicity stared at the laces on her skates and wrinkled her nose as she tried to undo them. Oliver who had already deftly removed his and was back in his own shoes, knelt down in front of her at once. “Here, let me,” he smiled as he began to loosen the laces. 

“Wow you’re really good a that. You must have a lot of experience at taking things off.” She paused. There was something fishy about that statement. Deciding that she didn’t want to incriminate herself further, Felicity bit down on her lip to stop herself from expanding on her comment and digging an even bigger hole. Oliver simply smiled at her, still on bended knee working to get her skates off.

“Oh I simply cannot tell you how relieved I am to get back into my own shoes,” Felicity sighed with relief once Oliver pulled her skates off. She carefully peeled away two pairs of socks and threw them into a container that she had in her handbag.

“If I had any skill or inclination to ice skate again, I think I’d just invest in a pair of my own skates because I just can’t stick my foot again into a shoe that someone else has worn, even with two layers of socks. So gross,” she shuddered.

Thea meanwhile was beside herself upon hearing Felicity’s comment. She pinched her brother’s arm and shot him a knowing look.

“Felicity since you don’t like skating and it’s cold here did you want to go somewhere for hot coco?” Oliver asked hopefully.

“Oh yes lets!” Felicity beamed at him and Thea with ease. “I’ll let Barry and Iris know that I met some nice new people and they can have a date alone without me being the third wheel! But I don’t know where to go for good hot cocoa though so you guys will have to take me. Or we can all go back to my place, which is only a block from here. I can’t cook but I have this cocoa powder that you just add milk to and it’s delicious.” 

She quickly typed a text and sent it off to her friends before smiling happily and expectantly at the Queen siblings whose faces fell when they realized she meant both of them not just Oliver. They had never been faced with this conundrum before. Usually girls were only too happy to get rid of Thea as soon as Oliver was around.

Thinking quickly on her feet, Thea grabbed her stomach, started to pull faces and make pained noises causing Felicity to look at her in alarm.

“Ouch! Ooooh I suddenly have a really bad pain in my stomach. I think I better go home first. You two go out for hot cocoa without me! Rain check for next time ok Felicity? Maybe we can go out for a drink when I’m better?” Thea pretended to double over onto the bench.

“I don’t think you should be going anywhere alone in that state,” Felicity eyed Thea with concern. “Your brother should drive you home. Better yet why don’t you come over to my house and lie down on my couch. I’ll make you some ginger water and you can go home when you feel better.”

She turned to Oliver and recited her address to him. “You move your car and park in front of my house. I’ll walk Thea home and tuck her in.”

Before either Queen sibling could protest, Felicity threw Thea’s arm over her shoulder and gently tried to lead her out of the building completely missing the fact that Oliver was glaring daggers at his sister who mouthed “I’m soooo sorry Ollie” as she was led out by Felicity who was in mother hen mode.

***

“Speedy you need to fix this,” Oliver whispered to Thea. As soon as they had reached Felicity’s charming (that word kept cropping up tonight but really charming was the only way to describe everything about their new friend) little town house, Felicity had ushered Thea onto the couch, tucking her in tightly and promptly wandered off to rummage for ginger in the fridge to make the much talked about ginger tea she insisted Thea needed to drink. 

“I’m trying to Ollie. Let me think.” Thea furrowed her brows and began to plot. Felicity was certainly different to the ilk of women that Oliver usually attracted. Warm, funny and caring. Too bad these very qualities were now backfiring on her plans to find Oliver The One and maybe snag herself a little niece or nephew in a few years time. Before the evening started she had just been angling for Ollie to date a nice girl. Now she was ready to run home and plan their wedding. Felicity was sunshine and unicorns! Thea could feel her spirits lift and her goals for her brother soaring.

“Here is your ginger tea,” Felicity sailed in cheerfully with a mug of steaming liquid in her hand. “You drink this and I’ll put on a Harry Potter DVD until you feel well enough to go home. You said you loved Harry Potter right? If you’re tummy settles in a bit we can even make some plain popcorn! I’m a disaster in the kitchen but popcorn and ginger tea I can do.”

Oliver suddenly felt like he wanted to burst into tears. He should have faked the stomachache! He could have been the one snuggled into Felicity’s couch with a hot beverage and promises of popcorn.

Seeing the kicked puppy look on her brother’s face, Thea decided it was time to make a bold move. Without warning she leapt off the couch and gave a little spin. “Stomachache is gone! See! All better! I need to go and see Roy my boyfriend now, sorry Felicity. It was great meeting you! Harry Potter and popcorn another day I promise. Girls’ day? I’ll show you the best shopping hot spots in Starling. Enjoy your hot cocoa with Ollie!”

Without waiting for a response, Thea yanked the car keys from her brother’s hand and bolted out of the door leaving a speechless Oliver and Felicity staring after her trying to register what had just happened.

***

“Well that was subtle,” Oliver grinned sheepishly at Felicity who was watching him with a look of half disbelief and half amusement.

“So subtle,” she let out a chuckle, shaking her head. “I am looking forward to a girls shopping trip with her though so you tell her I’m going to hold her to that promise.”

“She likes you. We both like you. I meant to say I like you as well. I really like you,” Oliver shuffled nervously, suddenly feeling ridiculous standing in the living room of his crush without any plans. They hadn’t even gone on a date yet and here he was at her house. He suddenly felt like a deer in the headlights, not sure of what he should do next.

Felicity was apparently equally nervous because the next words out of her mouth were, “Want to watch Netflix and chill?”

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her. He was familiar with the euphemism, having used it a fair bit in his day. Somehow he didn’t think she meant it _that_ way. “Netflix and chill? You do know what that means right?” he teased suddenly feeling more relaxed. She really was very lovely, and cute and adorable aaaand he needed to stop now before he worked up his nervous energy again. 

“Yes! No! I know what it means but I forgot! I mean I am not asking you to have sex with me! I don’t have sex with random men I meet at the ice skating rink. I mean I invited you over for hot cocoa not to have sex. I don’t have sex until ten really good dates at least! And I really need to stop saying the word sex!” Felicity covered her face with her hands and let out a frustrated squeak.

Propelled by her general loveliness that was making his heart flutter, Oliver took a stride towards her and gently removed her hands from her face.

“Let’s start with a cup of cocoa and a movie tonight Felicity. Then before I leave tonight I’m going to ask you on a date. And after that date I’m going to ask you on another date and another date. We will probably end up going on more than ten dates. Now if during any of those dates you want to watch Netflix and Chill you just tell me ok?”

Felicity gazed up at him and treated him to a smile that could only be described as sunshine personified. Forget jewelry he owed Thea half his trust fund for dragging him ice-skating tonight. Perhaps he’ll sign it over after his and Felicity’s wedding, he thought giddily to himself.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was inspired by this song which was one of the songs on my wedding playlist:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5-jw6pXaqQ
> 
> I have been listening to my wedding playlist and writing Olicity fics at the same time =P


	6. Once Upon A Dream (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver comes up with a messy plan to woo the charming IT Consultant he meets earlier that morning. Meanwhile Dig thinks there is a much simpler and sane way to get the girl. 
> 
> Sequel to Chapter 4 - Once Upon a Dream (Part One)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!
> 
> Have been inspired to write a sequel to this little story. Hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> If you haven't read it make sure you read Chapter 4 first!

Oliver peered at his phone marinating in his latte as the landline dialed out. Fortunately it only rang three times before Felicity picked up.

"Smoak Technologies, Felicity speaking,” her voice rang out pleasantly through the receiver. He wondered why she answered her phone like that. Then his heart sank as it dawned on him she must have handed him her business phone number not her personal one. He wasn’t even on personal number status he thought morosely to himself. Fortunately a little voice in his head (one that sounded suspiciously like John Diggle) reminded him that he had only met Felicity today and that she was first and foremost a businesswoman. This was part of the reason why he was so attracted to her. She was charming and attractive certainly, but there had been something about the way she had so earnestly plugged her business and rattled off about computing terminology that Oliver respected and found so very refreshing. So it made perfect sense that she would only hand out her business phone number. Her interest in him was purely for business purposes. It was up to him to convince her otherwise.

“Felicity? Hi It’s Oliver Queen. We met this morning.” He smiled to himself as he recalled their meeting earlier that morning. Maybe she wouldn’t date a client. Verdant was a big client for her and she wasn’t going to jeopardize her beloved business by going out with a client. It dawned on Oliver that he couldn’t just directly asked her out like he had planned. He had to find a way to get close to her, to make her find him as appealing as he found her until the time was ripe for him to make a move.

“Oh hi Oliver. What can I do for you? I didn’t get an alerts on Verdant so I assume you’re having a personal computing crisis,” she spoke cheerfully. He could hear some clanging and clattering in the background and wondered what she was up to.

“I…err…um spilt a latte on my iPhone. I need help with it. Urgently,” he stumbled awkwardly.

“Oh that’s no good,” Felicity clucked sympathetically before launching straight into business mode. “Can I ask you what model iPhone you have Oliver?” 

“Err iPhone 7 I think,” he replied wondering what this had to do with anything. Phones died when they met liquid. It was one of the surest things in life that he could depend on.

“That’s great news Oliver,” Felicity responded sounding suspiciously pleased about something. “You see the iPhone 7s are water resistant to a certain point. Not that the Apple warranty covers them from water damage and they won’t go all out claiming that their phones are waterproof but if you just dry it off with a lint free cloth, tap the phone to remove any access water and leave it to dry it should be fine. Leave it for five hours before you plug it in to charge. So there you go! No worries at all. Lucky you own the phone that you do because most other models wouldn’t be so forgiving.”

“But…but…it’s been soaking in a latte,” Oliver responded stupidly. The sheer disappointment of knowing that she wasn’t going to come out to fix his phone was too much to bear; he couldn’t keep his story straight.

“I thought you said you spilt a latte on it?” Felicity asked suspiciously.

“Did I? Sorry I meant I dropped it into a latte. By accident of course. Completely by accident.”

“Oh that’s not the end of the world either,” Felicity responded calmly. He couldn’t tell whether she believed his story or not but she was acting very professional about it. “Tests have shown that you can actually drag it along and swim 10 laps with it, without major damage to the phone. Just do the same thing I told you earlier. Your speakers may never be the same but it should work just fine. Meanwhile I will suggest that you back up all your content, just in case the liquid does reduce the lifespan of your phone later on.”

Oliver suddenly felt completely helpless. He had been banking on this to work. What did he have to do to get Felicity out to see him again? For a brief moment he considered dumping the contents of his latte on his laptop but he had already used the latte trick today and she was going to smell a rat if that latte got around to do a number on all his electronics.

Oliver stared out morosely as he pondered what to say to her next when his luck took another dive as John strolled into his office and was confronted with the view of his phone soaking in the latte. John’s eyebrows rose so high and he glared at Oliver so hard, his eyeballs threatened to fall out. Judgmental bastard. Just because he was older and had been married for a thousand years with twins did not give him the right to judge Oliver on his romantic woes. John Diggle wasn’t the one trying to navigate the world of wooing and dating adorable business minded blondes with beautiful voices. He glared at John defiantly and resumed speaking to Felicity.

“I err don’t know how to backup my content. Sorry I’m one of those people who don’t use technology. Ludwigs or something. Is that what you call them?

“Luddites, we call them Luddites,” Felicity laughed at him. “I’m guessing you want me to come out rather than line up at Tech Village? Do you know if you have iCloud yet?”

“No!” Oliver lied through his teeth. He had an iCloud account. He had never used it but he did have one that Thea had set up for him. But he figured that if he _didn’t_ have one, Felicity would have to spend more time setting one up for him. He did a mental fist pump. This was working out after all. Meanwhile John had settled down on the couch in Oliver’s office, with his arms tucked behind his head and was shooting Oliver a series of “You so incredibly stupid” judgy faces. 

Ignoring John’s lack of support, Oliver chugged on happily with his crusade. “Any chance you can pop by my place to help? I err haven’t eaten dinner yet so if you haven’t eaten either I can whip us up something while you work on backing up the phone.”

“Are you sure you need your phone that urgently?” Felicity asked sounding puzzled. “Because isn’t this almost peak hour at Verdant for you? Don’t you have to do your dashing club owner thing and oh I don’t know dance with the ladies or something?”

“I haven’t danced with the ladies in a long time Felicity. Still trying to find the one lady I want to dance with.” He winced as soon as the words left his mouth. That sounded douchey and yet oddly pathetic at the same time. John was now shaking his head in disbelief and burying his face in his hands. Oliver resisted the childish urge to stick his tongue out at the other man. “Thea and Tommy take care of most of the night operations. I do the paperwork during the day.” 

“I never figured you for a paperwork kind of guy Oliver.” He wasn’t sure if he was imagining it but she may have sounded pleased.

“You know what’s really weird. I just burnt my dinner and was about to call my local take out place to put in an order when you rang me. So it’s kind of fortuitous that you called. Free meal,” she giggled gleefully.

“Can I come pick you up?” Oliver asked eager to know where she lived.

“I’m a big girl Oliver. Give me your address and I’ll drive to your place.”

“But I’ve troubled you so much already. Least I could do is come and pick you up,” he persisted. John was now waving his hands, frantically making the stop sign at him.

“Tell you what Oliver, why don’t you give me your address, wipe your phone and leave it to dry, get dinner started and I’ll make my way there as soon as I clean up this mess in my kitchen a bit. And by clean I mean dump the burnt contents of my would be dinner into the bin and wipe down my benches.”

Oliver didn’t know why but he beamed with amusement at the thought that she couldn’t cook. So it looked like they had complimentary traits. He was bad at technology but a great cook and she was a computer whizz who couldn’t rummage up a meal. And they were both business people trying to grow and run their own businesses. It was destiny. Extremely well suited, complimentary destiny but destiny nevertheless. He was lured in by her voice from under a desk after all.

“Yes Madam,” he replied, barely able to contain the smile on his face or in his voice. “Any preferences or allergies?”

“I’m Jewish but don’t keep kosher so nothing to worry about except my peanut allergy.” 

“Okay, noted. No peanuts.” Oliver was pleased that he had yet learned another new fact about her. He rattled off his address, bid her farewell and hung up the phone, barely able to contain his joy even though John was now looking from him to his marinating iPhone, still with the incredulous judgmental look on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that John. Didn’t that heart of yours beat with a crazy love for Lyla once?” Oliver glowered at his friend, feeling semi embarrassed that he had been caught purposely soaking his phone in a latte.

“You better take that thing out of the coffee before it does die for real and she just tells you to buy a new one.” John informed him calmly. “And my heart still beats with plenty of love for Lyla but it ain’t the kind of love which involves destroying electronics to get her attention. Lots of love, none of the crazy.”

“I can’t just ask her out, she’ll refuse because I’m a client,” Oliver finally blurted out. He didn’t know why but it irritated him that John thought his actions were unnecessary and irrational. Despite feeling like he was well within his rights to do what he did, he didn’t want the other man judging him dammit! There was logic to his perceived madness!

“Oliver I’ve known you for a long time and suffice to say you are pretty charmed by this girl. I’ve also seen what women are like around you to know that Felicity is definitely interested. Her eyes were sparkling while she was eating lunch with you. She laughed at your very not-funny attempts at humour and looked like she genuinely found them to be hilarious. Girl likes you. So why don’t you quit trying to destroy random technology and just ask her out. Tell her it won’t impact her business in any way and she can talk shop with either myself or Tommy when she needs to discuss business matters.” 

“What if she says no? Then she’ll shut the door on us completely and I won’t ever get a chance to show her who I am and what I’m like.”

“She won’t say no,” John sighed, still attempting to sooth his idiot friend. Boy really had a flair for the dramatics. He had been going through a brooding phase lately and it looked like he was going to find the dumbest, most complicated and roundabout way he could to win Felicity Smoak over.

“I was in the military for ten years Oliver. It was part of my job to read people and situations and I’m telling you that Felicity likes you as much you like her. You don’t see her twinkling like a little star at me do you? And I’ve met with her several times before she met you today.”

“I can’t take that risk John. I’ve got to make sure she really likes me first, like she could see me that way and maybe feel something for me before I swoop in and ask her out.”

“So your plan is to exploit your business relationship with her and trick her into date type situations, mainly by destroying random portable devices that you own, so that she’ll fall for you instead of just asking her out and telling her you can separate your business dealings with each other by going through a third party like myself or Tommy?” John asked shaking his head. God give him the strength to deal with this imbecile. It was like Oliver wanted to create his own romantic comedy complete with idiotic hijinks. 

“It sounds silly when you put it that way but if you were in my shoes you’d understand.” Oliver tried to sound as dignified as he could, although an uncomfortable thought had crept into his head that maybe John did have a point.

He picked up his phone, gave it a wipe with a bunch of tissues he grabbed from his desk and headed out the door, turning to bid goodbye to John. “I’ve got to go now! I gotta get home and get something started for dinner before she arrives. At least wish me luck with tonight John.”

“You don’t need luck to make Felicity like you. You need luck to stop you from coming up with more stupid plans. Just ask her out Oliver!” John shouted after him as he sprinted out of the building, his mind racing as he catalogued the contents of his fridge and pondered what he could possibly clobber up for dessert.

***

Oliver sprinted to his door as soon as the doorbell rang. While running around to prepare dinner he couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that his idea had actually worked. For all of his speeches and warnings John was definitely wrong. Felicity was just outside his front door. She had come to help him with his phone and eat dinner with him. His plan was working brilliantly.

“Hi!” He was greeted by a smiling Felicity, dressed in an electric blue flared dress, one that was quite short he noticed as he casually let his eyes wonder discreetly down the length of her fabulous legs before yanking his face up to meet her eyes. This was only their second meeting, it wouldn’t do to look like a pervert. He needed to stick to the plan. Get Felicity to bond with him, like him, like him so much that she can’t reject him, date him and then he was home free to stare at her legs or any other assets he wanted. He just needed to stick to the plan.

“Hi! You have perfect timing. Just like you did this morning,” he said smiling at her. She gave him a slightly puzzled look as he leaned in to kiss her hello and stuck out her hand instead of offering him her cheek. Disappointed, his face fell as he shook her hand politely. Felicity as if sensing his disappointment gave his hand an extra friendly squeeze before shoving a bunch of yellow roses in his direction. 

“I would offer to bring dessert but since I’m here because I burnt my dinner, and you made such a fancy grilled cheese this morning I didn’t bother attempting to bring dessert. I thought it would be safest to bring you these instead. They look pretty and yellow is such a safe and friendly colour without the romantic subtext of other colours.” She paused and smiled at him nervously. Oliver was heartened by the fact that she seemed just as nervous as he was.

“Thank you Felicity. I can’t say I’ve ever been given flowers by anyone before.” He ushered her into his somewhat sterile and extremely tidy living room and before his nerves could take over, Oliver grabbed Felicity’s hand and led her into the kitchen. She shot him a surprised look but followed him readily enough and didn’t make any attempts to pull her hand away.

Oliver guided her over to his bar bench and let his hand linger on hers one last time before he grudgingly let it go. Felicity gave him a puzzled look but didn’t say anything and seated herself on the bar bench as she watched him begin to plate up their dinner of roast chicken thighs and vegetables.

“Give me your phone,” Felicity held out her hand. That soft warm hand again. He just wanted to grab it and hold it all night.

“Dinner is almost ready,” Oliver answered thinking he’d get them eating and chatting first before he would have to tell a few white lies about the state of his phone and his iCloud account.

“Oh it’ll only take me a few minutes,” Felicity informed him as she spun around her stool taking in the sight of his kitchen. “Your kitchen is really nice! So homey but with all this fancy schmancy machines that you look like you know how to use! It looks like it’s been lived in compared to your living room. I’m the complete opposite. Living room looks lived in because I’m a couch potato on the weekends and I code on my lounge most evenings. The kitchen and I have a terse relationship at best. I beautifully decorated it. It gives me the illusion that I can cook but sadly the reality is very different.”

Oliver chuckled at her statement and gave himself a mental pat on the back when he noticed that Felicity had spotted the lemon bars he had cooling on a rack on the counter and was gazing at them longingly.

“Those are for dessert,” he said, handing her his phone. She gave the lemon bars one last lingering look before turning to his phone and started tapping away.

*** 

“That was delicious,” Felicity smiled at him as she settled comfortably onto his couch. They had moved to the couch in his living room now for dessert. It had taken her all of ten minutes to create an iCloud account for him and back up the ten photos of Thea and his friends, as well as some other files he had on his phone. With all the nonsense that he had concocted out of the way, they had been free during dinner to talk about anything they wanted. 

He learned that Felicity originally hailed from Vegas and was a certified genius. She graduated from MIT at the tender age of 19 and went on to work for Kord Industries for four years before resigning and launching Smoak Technologies with Cisco her friend/employee. Oliver found that he owed a huge debt to this Cisco who was currently embroiled in a tumultuous long distance relationship, which was the reason why he had skipped out this morning, making Felicity fill in for him instead. 

“Funnily enough I was trying to create a similar dinner when you called. The one that I burnt and everything stuck to the foil for some reason. OMG this is soooooo good,” Felicity crooned as she stuck a forkful of lemon bar into her mouth. Her cheeks were a soft pink, her eyes half lidded and her soft pink lips were slightly parted as she savoured the dessert. Oliver found himself staring and wondering just what would happen if he leaned over and planted a kiss on those incredibly soft looking lips.

Instead he reached over and placed a hand on her bare shoulder, the effect of her soft skin against his rough fingers startling him momentarily however he managed to pull himself together long enough to offer her the remainder of the lemon bars to take home.

“Oh thank you so much! I could eat these forever! Last time I made some I ended up with something that tasted like sour scrambled eggs.” Felicity beamed at him delightedly and threw her arms around his shoulders giving him an enthusiastic hug. Oliver leaned into the hug and sighed happily before she pulled away, blushing a lovely shade of crimson.

“Sorry that was terribly unprofessional of me,” she muttered, her face still bright pink as she tried to avoid his gaze. “We’ve just met this morning and you’re a new client. I’m…uh…I better get going. Thank you for the lovely meal Oliver I had a lovely time. Your phone looks fine and everything is backed up to the Cloud even if it decides to die on you. No more lattes for you in the near future! At least not near that phone.” She made a move to scramble off the couch and grabbed her bag with Oliver watching on helplessly. It had been going so well.

“Felicity err can I drive you home,” he asked awkwardly handing her a container of lemon bars.

“Oliver I drove here myself remember,” she smiled at him, looking less flustered than she did a few minutes ago. It seemed that they were taking turns being nervous.

Oliver ground his teeth and willed himself to get a grip. He was a thirty something year old man for goodness sakes and here he was stumbling around clumsily like a fifteen year old trying to ask the prettiest, nicest and smartest girl to the school dance. You can do this he cheered himself on.

“No I can’t let you drive yourself home and walk to your front door by yourself. What if someone is lurking around in the dark corners?”

Felicity laughed. It was such a genuine, happy sound and her eyes were gazing at him with what he could only construe as a somewhat fond expression before she responded. “Oliver my street is very well lit and I have a Taser in my bag. I’ll take it out and carry it to my front door if that makes you feel better.” 

“You carry a Taser around with you?” he asked giving her a shocked look. He hadn’t expected soft, sunny Felicity with her bright and sparkling demeanour to carry a Taser around.

“Well I was headed to the apartment of man I just met this morning and I hardly knew anything about you at all so I thought it was for the best if I packed my Taser with me. You can never tell you know.” There was such conviction in Felicity’s voice and she looked so earnest, Oliver could not help but internally swoon despite the fact that she had just informed him she was wary that he might have been a creeper.

“Well I hope you feel like you know me well enough after tonight Felicity,” he smiled at her. Before she came over tonight he had run a few scenarios in his head and had banked on dropping a few charming “Ollie” smiles at her but as soon as he saw Felicity again Oliver realized there was no need. She made him want to smile. Just a happy, sunshine and rainbows genuine smile. There was no need to try and train himself to smile at her in any particular way because he just couldn’t help looking happy around her.

“Oh yes, you’re hot and a very good cook.” Felicity slapped his shoulder breezily before realizing what she had said. “I meant not! Not a creepy guy! You are NOT a creepy guy and a very good cook.”

Her faced was flushing bright pink again and this time Oliver couldn’t resist bending down to kiss her warm pink cheek. She smelled like lemon bars and butter and the effect of his stubble against her very soft cheek was intoxicating. He’d have to be really gentle so she wouldn’t get beard burn since her skin was so soft.

“Promise you’ll text me when you get home?” he asked, still wishing she’d let him follow her home his car or something but realizing that would come off as over protective and overbearing.

“Promise.” She flashed him one last sweet smile before they headed out his door so he could walk her to her car.

***

Unknown: Home safe, doors locked and gorging on the lemon bars you packed me. I may only have a few left. By the way this is Felicity on my personal number.

O: You need to try my chocolate soufflés. Will make them for you next time I have another technology related incident.

F: No food or drinks near your electronics!

O: Or you could just ring me next time you burn your dinner or have no dinner again.  

F: I might take you up on that offer if you’re not careful. Have only 3 lemon bars left. Need to stop! 

O: You have to come over for the chocolate soufflés. Lemon bars are nothing compared to the soufflés.

F: Night Oliver! Sweet dreams 

O: You too. By the way Felicity just like the song, your prince will definitely love you at once if you dream of him tonight ;) 

F: Haha I didn’t think you were capable of a fancy smiley!

O: I am a man many of many talents Felicity.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bless him he's a dumb pine tree but at least he seems to be doing well with his plan!


	7. School Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver learns to stop being a control freak and navigates the trials and tribulations of sending his daughter to preschool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the result of a random conversation I had with someone on a forum! So it's total and utter rubbish but fun rubbish I hope! Enjoy!
> 
> I wrote this while suffering from the dreaded winter lurgy so beware of mistakes etc

Oliver didn’t believe in preschool. In fact he didn’t believe in sending little Mia Queen to school at all. Felicity was a genius with an IQ of 170 after all. Mia who had been assessed and was found to be gifted really should have been home schooled by her genius mother, not fraternizing with a bunch of snotty nosed preschoolers, most of whom who could barely recognize the alphabet.

Except Felicity had pointed out to Oliver calmly that Mia had already spent four years at home being cared for by him and it was high time that she learned to socialize with other children and prepare herself for the big wide world of elementary school. Felicity had put her foot down and rejected his arguments for home schooling, pointing out that she, Felicity spent her days running Queen Inc so unless Oliver was prepared to take over the reins as CEO or home school Mia himself, Star City Preschool was the best place for their daughter. Considering that Oliver had once upon a time, as CEO, signed over Queens Consolidated to the villainous Isabel Rochev and was four time college drop out, he had conceded defeat quickly and quietly without the need for Felicity to use her Loud Voice at him.

It didn’t stop him from trying to convince her that maybe he should do some due diligence on the preschool though and by due diligence he meant scaling the school rooftop, removing a few loose tiles to watch and listen to see what was going on within the walls of that preschool. Felicity had lost it when he made this suggestion. It was one thing to spy on gang members and nefarious big bads, but they had names for people who snuck around and spied on preschoolers and their teachers. Adequately chastened, Oliver had apologized profusely and promised to rein in the crazy over bearing father act. 

Felicity had pulled him into her arms, kissed his stubbly cheeks and assured him that she had completed thorough research (via the legitimate and sane means of speaking to parents who had sent their children to the same preschool) and was absolutely convinced that this was the best preschool they could send Mia to.

***

Oliver lingered as he watched his daughter sit down with her friends, a group of four year olds who were struggling to spell out their names with magnetic letters, while she was happily constructing a full sentence on her magnetic board, her little chubby fingers flying as she slapped the letters quickly onto the board, reminding him of Felicity when she was coding. Occasionally his daughter would pause to smile and help one of her fellow classmates with a letter in their name, giving another child a pat and an encouraging smile as she answered one of their questions.

It never ceased to amaze Oliver how his daughter was the perfect combination of himself and Felicity. Felicity had fallen pregnant with Mia during the last year of his term as Mayor. Instead of running for re election, Oliver had opted to for a career change and had insisted on being a stay at home dad much to the shock and surprise of everyone except Felicity who understood how much he had missed out on with William and knew he longed to experience absolutely everything this time round with their child. Things had worked out fabulously. Although Felicity enjoyed motherhood immensely, she also loved her job as CEO and had lofty goals for growing Queen Inc. Felicity had admitted to him one night that she would have struggled as a full time stay at home mom. As it turned out being a stay at home dad, Felicity’s husband and the Green Arrow at night was a full and fulfilling life, beyond anything he had dared to dream of for himself.

Although he loved both his children, Mia was something else. Mia Queen with her rosy cheeks, dark honey coloured hair and bright blue eyes was an extraordinarily beautiful looking child. However her intelligence eclipsed her looks. Felicity had resisted getting Mia assessed at first, for fear of labeling her, however when Mia taught herself to read fluently by age two, Felicity had relented. Mia was what the Education Department deemed to be “gifted.” At one she could talk in full sentences and would converse with Oliver happily as he pushed her around in her stroller. When she was two and a half, she taught herself to add and subtract, taking great enjoyment in adding up the grocery bill whenever they went on a grocery run together.

Whilst William had enjoyed colouring in with crayons and playing with toy figurines at age ten, by the time her fourth birthday rolled around, Mia was reading complex non fiction books about trees, mammals and marine life. She showed a keen interest in biology and would often attempt to conduct experiments at home with the science kits that everyone bought for her. His daughter was remarkable, just like her mother.

Which was why he currently found himself lingering and watching her. She was so clever and light-years ahead of everyone, Oliver wanted to make sure she was doing ok and fitting in. Felicity had often talked about how hard it had been to be the most intelligent child in the room.

“You can go home now Mr. Queen. She’s going to be perfectly fine I promise,” Sylvia Taylor, Starling Preschool Director materialized swiftly out of nowhere, giving him a run for his money on super stealth ninja skills. The woman was ancient and had run the preschool for fifty-two years. Sylvia knew everything there was to know about children and nervous parents.

“I err…just wanted to make sure she’s ok,” Oliver mumbled.

Sylvia flashed him a kind smile and responded politely but firmly, “Mr. Queen all the children have settled in very well by now and we ask that parents drop off their child and leave at once. If there is one parent standing around fussing over their child, it can lead to other children feeling distressed that their own parents are not here. In the future may I ask that you drop Mia off and head out as quickly as possible after you’ve said your farewells.” 

“How is she doing?” Oliver could not resist asking. Mia always looked so happy, but was she really? Surely these child experts could shed some light on the situation for him. He flashed Sylvia his most charming smile, hoping she’d be sympathetic to his plight.

Sylvia motioned for him to step out of the classroom, out of the children’s sight before responding. “Mia is doing exceptionally well Mr. Queen. She is very happy and popular. She has plenty of friends and the other children vie to sit next to her during floor time. She is kind and thoughtful and loves doing all the activities that children do. I’d say you have nothing to worry about Mr. Queen. Now if you’ll excuse me I must go and complete some paperwork. Please remember what I said about staying too long during drop off time Mr. Queen.”

Sylvia gave him a stern nod and headed to her office. Oliver Queen may have once been Mayor Handsome but that had absolutely no effect on Sylvia Taylor. She was not going to stand for him causing distress amongst her four year olds because he was an over zealous parent who had trouble letting go. 

***

Being a warm sunny spring day in Star City, John had decided to forgo the car and stroll out to meet Felicity for lunch. Criminal activity in Star City had reached an all time low which meant that they had been taking turns patrolling. Most nights there was no criminal activity, which was an excellent thing however John was starting to feel the slight effects of a reduced exercise and training regime, hence his last minute decision to walk the long route past Star City Preschool to Felicity’s office.

He was early and had just caught the tail end of outdoor time. He waved enthusiastically to Mia who waved back and shouted, “Hallo Uncle John,” before turning back to her friends who were all lined up taking turns to climb a tree under the supervision of one of their teachers. John smiled to himself and felt his heart swell ten times its original size. Mia Queen had her mother’s natural charm and warmth combined with her father’s poise and confidence. She was a little darling and could only be rivaled by her own mother in terms of cuteness in John Diggle’s eyes.

He had almost passed the preschool when something in the bushes caught his eye. There was something about the way those bushes had moved that was not natural. He detected movement in the bushes looking directly into the preschool grounds, which meant that some pervert was currently hiding in those bushes spying on a bunch of four year olds. As quick as their friend Barry, the Flash, John dived into the bushes and mounted an attack on whoever was prowling around. To John’s surprise the person fought back, deftly and skilfully. They were locked in combat when John found himself suddenly staring at Oliver of all people. 

“What the hell,” John yelled at his friend only to have Oliver glare at him and shove a hand over his mouth. The boy had finally lost his marbles. After defeating Merlyn, Slade, Darhk and Prometheus, who knew it was going to be his own little girl that would send Oliver off to coco-puff land.

“Shhhh! Stop shouting! She’ll hear you!” Oliver whispered back frantically, removing his hand from John’s mouth. John was staring at him, looking absolutely flabbergasted.

“Care to explain?” he asked drily once he had recovered from his shock. Oliver quickly pushed John out of the bushes. Once they were both back on the footpath Oliver shoved his hands into his pockets and pretended to stroll casually as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all and John hadn’t just caught him spying on his four-year-old minutes earlier. 

“Walk away and look casual,” he instructed John who had now caught up with him. 

“So suddenly you’re the authority on acting normal now,” John shot back, raising the famous Diggle eyebrow at him.

Oliver shrugged, looking unrepentant. “She’s my baby and you know she’s special. I just wanted to make sure she was ok.”

“Oliver they are all special, every single one of them is special to their parents. Mia may be an actual genius but she still loves candy and climbing trees as much as any other child. I’m sure you can see that. What were you trying to look out for exactly?” John shook his head and let out an exasperated sigh. Mia Queen was one of the sweetest and well-adjusted kids he knew and that was a feat considering who her father and grandparents were. Now that he thought about it, all the sanity probably came from Felicity and Felicity alone.

Still he had to hand it to Oliver, staying home to raise a well-balanced child like Mia for the past four years. The man was a master at gourmet baby puree and could burp a baby as well as he could scale a building. John had fought beside Oliver since the beginning of his crusade and had seen him defeat countless villains but he respected him most for his full time parenting gig. Oliver to his credit hid his crazy and paranoia real well from his child and saved it for moments of insanity like today.

“I wanted to see what she got up to when I wasn’t around, how her friends treat her,” Oliver responded, still looking like he didn’t think there was anything strange about hiding in the bushes. He was just a concerned and loving parent damn it.

“They’re four Oliver. Just how juicy do you think four year old playground politics is?” Seeing Oliver about to respond, John motioned for him to be quiet. “Actually don’t answer that! I don’t want to know what you think of 4-year-old politics. Come to think of it, how long have you been in those bushes anyway? Outdoor time doesn’t start until later and you normally drop her off at 9.30 am.”

Oliver glared at John sulkily. Curse the man for being a helpful uncle and knowing Mia’s schedule just as well as he did. There had been a handful of times when he had copped a minor injury while Felicity was on a business trip, resulting in John having to do the morning drop off for him.

“I went to a café and waited until it was almost outdoor time,” he replied stiffly, with as much dignity as he could muster up.

“And then you went back and snuck into the bushes? Geez don’t you realize how crazy that sounds,” John admonished him. “I’m going to meet Felicity for lunch soon. You want to join us and be there while I tell her about this or you want to hide somewhere? Maybe in the bushes outside the restaurant? It’s a nice day we’ll be dining al fresco.” Really John had a mean streak that reared it's head sometimes.

***

“Hey Mia, you should come over to my house for a play date cos I don’t really have a girlfriend,” little Maxwell Aberdeen asked Mia hopefully, flashing her the million dollar Aberdeen smile. It was a smile Oliver knew well, the smile he had used on little girls way back when and the same smile he had used, as he got older. It was a smile that had not worked on Felicity though. Oliver pressed paused on his straying thoughts to focus on his daughter’s response.

“Maybe during the school holidays Max. I’ve got a play date with Ant every weekend. He’s my best friend. We’re growing bacteria in agar plates this weekend.” Seeing the little boy’s confusion Mia went on to explain cheerfully “We’re gonna make yucky germs grow in jelly.” 

Little Max considered her response for second before shrugging his shoulders and said “Well if you get bored with germs we’ve got an ice cream churner and Lillian our housekeep makes the best strawberry ice cream. You should come over.”

“I wish I could, maybe in the holidays?” Mia channeled Felicity’s _I’m-so-cute-I-can-get-away-with-anything-pout_ briefly before flashing poor Max a dimpled smile. The charmer became the charmed and the little boy watched her, with a dopey smile on his face as she skipped off to find a tricycle to ride. 

Oliver felt his heart swell with pride. Four years old and she was tactfully brushing off ice cream for science experiments. His little prodigy. He couldn’t be more proud of her. Oliver grinned to himself, looking as pleased as punch and backed out of the bushes. In his preoccupation with Mia and how wonderful she was, he failed to notice that someone had been watching him and thus he turned around to find himself face to face with his wife who wore a slightly amused and slightly frustrated expression on her face.

Startled by her sudden appearance and terrified at being caught spying on Mia again (Felicity had used her LOUD VOICE after the time John caught him) Oliver let out a scared high-pitched wail, sending Felicity into a fit of laughter. Trying to stop herself from laughing, Felicity grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the school.

“Do not take this uncontrollable laughter as a sign that I am not mad at you,” she managed to choke out finally. “You….you squealed like a scared old lady. Oh you should have seen your face.”

“Don’t make fun of old ladies, they’re the ones we try to keep the city safe for,” Oliver responded opting to look dignifiedly hurt. “And you should be ashamed of the fact that you’re so scary you made me squeal.” 

“Don’t try to shift the focus away from yourself Oliver,” Felicity looked at him sternly, having finally recovered from her laughing fit. “What did we say about spying on our daughter?”

“She’s got little boys asking her to play dates. What the hell is a play date anyway? Who goes on play dates? Want to come over for a play date? What is that code for?” Oliver ranted, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Oliver you know what a play date is. We take her to the Palmers for a play date with Ant every Saturday,” Felicity reminded him calmly.

“Ant is different! Ant is a fellow genius.” 

Anthony Stein Palmer or “Ant” as he was known affectionately in the Queen household was a year older than Mia and also a gifted child. He and Mia were kindred spirits, spending their Saturdays buried in books, experiments and idle chatter that only the two of them could understand. Occasionally they also did typical feral kid things like draw with chalk on the walls of Palmer Estate, or try to dye the swimming pool green. 

Whilst Oliver acknowledged that Mia fit in well with other children her age and even had fun with them, it was during her play dates with Ant that Oliver felt she could truly be herself. They pushed each other in a gentle and friendly way and one day he just knew that they were going to push each other to achieve great things.

It also helped that Ant was a perpetually cheerful and happy kid, a trait that Oliver had found exceedingly grating in the older Ray but welcomed in his five-year-old son. Mia for all her good points had her moments and could be a handful (after all both he and Felicity had their moments and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree) but Ant Palmer was always sunny and as good as gold. Babysitting him and taking him out was a breeze.

It had been a huge source of amusement for Team Arrow to find that the only child Oliver approved of, as being good enough for his daughter was the son of Ray Palmer and Lily Stein.

“She needs other friends besides Ant. Ant is too easygoing, too kind and straight forward. It would do her some good to mingle and navigate around other children her age with different personalities and temperaments. Get her prepared for elementary school.”

“She’s four,” Oliver wailed. “She’s my baby. She doesn’t need to mingle with different personalities! She should just play with Ant who is always nice to her. And I still think she should be homeschooled.”

“Oliver,” Felicity sighed rubbing her temples. “We’ve discussed this already remember? Neither you nor I have the skills to educate her properly at home. Starling Elementary is excellent. Ant goes there, JJ went there. She’s doing really well at preschool. Way better than you or I ever did. She’s going to be fine. She may need to skip a few grades but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Felicity wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a big bear hug. “You’re going to be ok Oliver. Just don’t hide in any more bushes and work yourself up. Let her go on a play date and watch ice cream being churned if she wants to go.” 

“Ugh ice cream, all that sugar,” Oliver shuddered. He had done his best in his four years to protect Mia from the evil that was refined sugar. Oddly enough Ray held the same views and they had found themselves on the same crusade. It was slightly disturbing how well he got along with Ray over the years.

“You were given plenty of sugary treats as a child!” Felicity pointed out, rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth him. Sugar seemed to set Oliver off as much as Prometheus did back in the day.

“I was raised by nannies! Look at how I turned out! I was shipwrecked on an Island and now I’m a Vigilante,” Oliver whispered.

“You’re not too bad Mr. Queen,” Felicity stood up on tippy toes to kiss her husband, cupping his face in her hands; an action that she knew would always calm him. “You’re an amazing daddy, maybe just a little intense.” 

“You know how we can fix that,” Oliver whispered, pulling her towards him, his hands wondering down her tight pencil skirt as he stole another kiss from her.

“You want to come back and be my Executive Assistant when Mia starts elementary school?”

“I was thinking how about we have another baby for me to raise.”


	8. Once Upon A Dream (Part Three)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8\. Once Upon a Dream (Part Three) - Oliver comes up with yet another messy plan to woo Felicity. Felicity decides it's time to take matters into her own hands.
> 
> Third instalment of chapters 4 and 6.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys!
> 
> I felt like this needed a third instalment to finish it off so here it is!
> 
> If you haven't read this story yet make sure you read Chapters 4 and 6 first or else it won’t make sense!

Felicity pouted and put on her mopey face as she glanced at her sad looking sandwich. There was no accurate description for it other than sad. The more she looked at it the more it made her feel sad and today was not a sad day. Today she had managed to sign on two more clients. If the trial period was successful (which she was confident it would be since failure was not an option and Felicity would rather go without coffee for a year than lose a reasonable client) she would need to start looking into hiring another consultant for Smoak Technologies. The very thought sent a warm and fuzzy thrill down to the tip of her toes. Her baby was expanding. Maybe it would be feasible to look at renting a small office space in the new year. 

Felicity glanced at the soggy chicken sandwich with its wilted looking pieces of ice berg lettuce staring back at her, causing her to lose any enthusiasm for lunch. Truth be told she had been frugal when she grabbed the sandwich from the premade section of the grocery store. She was doing well but she was by no means well off. It had seemed like such an indulgence to go out to lunch at a restaurant alone, even if it was to celebrate her success today. 

As fate would have it Felicity’s private phone chimed just as she was about to take a tentative bite of the unappealing sandwich, signaling that Oliver was dialing her. Felicity perked up, unconsciously fluffed her hair and patted her curls before picking up the call. She wasn’t entirely sure what was going on with Oliver and his numerous questionable issues with technology but she knew that a run in with Oliver usually equated to good food. 

***

He was either interested in her and making up ridiculous excuses to see her again or he was just a genuinely daft man who needed her help, Felicity thought to herself as she pulled into Verdant’s parking lot. Fortunately she had the rest of the day free and she was going to use it to address poor Oliver’s issues whichever way they swung. 

Felicity felt slightly grateful that she had opted to wear a bright aqua embroidered skater dress (with pockets!) today despite some hesitation this morning about whether aqua was a bit too vivid for meeting new potential clients. In the end she had opted to be herself and being herself meant wearing that little splash of colour. She had covered up the more decorative top half of the dress with a blazer but now as she headed off to meet Oliver Queen, Felicity dumped the blazer in her car to show off her dress in it’s full glory.

Felicity had barely reached the front entrance when Oliver appeared at the door, beaming at her shyly while steering her into the building by her shoulders, generally being altogether much too touchy feely and pleased looking for someone who had genuine technology related problems.

He led her into his office and pointed at his monitor, which was pitch black.

“I…uh… I don’t know what happened. I came in this morning and it wouldn’t turn on. It’s been a terrible nuisance. Couldn’t do any of the accounts or paperwork.”

Felicity flashed him an amused smile before responding. “Then why did you wait until lunch to call me Oliver? You could have called the business number. I would have sent Cisco out or at least help you troubleshoot it over the phone.” As she finished her sentence, Felicity tilted her head slightly, waiting to see what excuse he was going to come up with next.

“I…umm…I thought you would be more likely to be free at lunch. So I um waited until lunchtime. You don’t have to leave here for an afternoon meeting do you?” He suddenly looked a bit panicked, wondering if she did have to rush off to another meeting, which would foil his plans to spend time with her.

“Looks like you’re going to get lucky today Oliver. I’m free for the rest of this afternoon. I’m all yours,” Felicity smiled at him before wincing once she had the chance to process the exact words uttered. Oliver went bright red and Felicity felt her cheeks burn as they stared at each other awkwardly.

Felicity suddenly burst out laughing as it dawned on her how ridiculous the situation really was. She was a grown adult with her own business and he was The Oliver Queen for goodness sakes. She took a deep breath and spoke calmly. “My lack of breakfast and lunch is obviously getting to me, I didn’t mean it that way. I am free for the rest of the afternoon and can help you fix any technological issues you may have. I’m here if you need to ask me anything. Is there anything you would like to ask me Oliver?”

She gave him an encouraging but knowing look, hoping that it would prompt him into some sort of direct action that didn’t involve him running around, wreaking havoc on technology. One glance at his computer and Felicity knew that someone had simply gone up to it and yanked each and every cable out leaving a dead screen and a machine that wouldn’t boot up because it wasn’t actually connected to anything.

“Chicken Kiev?” he asked her brightly, as if he had not caught onto her hint at all. “We had a Russian housekeeper when I was younger, she taught me her authentic recipe. I…uh…fortunately have all the ingredients ready in the Verdant kitchen today. How about you fix that while I go and make us some Kiev?” Oliver waved at the mess of cables on his floor and gave her shoulder yet another squeeze.

Felicity, feeling slightly frustrated by his insistence on being dense frowned at him slightly before ironing out her features to ask him, “Will there be any dessert today or no dessert because it’s lunch?”

“I made apple pie last night and brought some to Verdant. Is that good enough for dessert?” he responded looking pleased with himself.

Because only the very cold hearted or dead (and let’s face it Felicity was neither) could continue to be cross at Oliver Queen dressed in a white shirt and suspenders offering them pie, Felicity felt like it was well within her rights to clap her hands in delight and tug at his left suspender playfully. 

***

Whatever it was that Oliver was up to, at least he had the good sense to carry out his peculiar schemes without Mr. Diggle present, Felicity thought as she polished off her slice of apple pie and ice cream. Felicity liked John Diggle, he had been a joy to negotiate and work with but there was something no nonsense about his attitude that made Felicity feel a great sense of relief that he was not here today to form his silent judgment on this curious ritual she and Oliver were currently engaged in.

Felicity in order to protect her reputation and business had been meticulous to only meet up with Oliver about his “technological issues” outside of business hours in her own time so as to not affect the fee structure between Verdant and Smoak Technologies. Truth be told there was a tiny voice inside Felicity’s head telling her that this was highly unprofessional and that she should quash this nonsense once and for all. However the louder and more insistent voice (the one that Felicity favored) argued that she had spent the best years of her youth buried in MIT and then Kord Industries. She didn’t deal with Oliver in Verdant matters anyway only with John and Tommy. She hadn’t dated anyone for years and here was an eligible single swoon worthy man who apparently wanted to ask her out but was feeling too nervous to do so. Who knew that Oliver Queen could be such a dork. Over her. She owed it to herself to give him a chance.

“I should get going now that all your wires are safely plugged back to where they belong. Thank you for lunch and try to stay out of anymore trouble Oliver.” Felicity hopped down from the bar stool and grabbed her handbag, giving Oliver yet another expectant look, willing him to spit out whatever it was he was trying to ask her instead of causing more trouble. 

Oliver stared at her face (or more precisely her lips) for a few seconds before he finally spoke.

“Home automation,” he declared out of nowhere. “Home automation!”

Felicity closed her eyes and let out a breath preparing herself for his next scheme. “And what is it you would like to know about home automation?” she asked him calmly, a small smile creeping onto her face even though she was well aware she should be frustrated with him by now instead of amused.

“I want to um automate everything in my apartment. Dishwasher, washing machine, fridge, oven, my iron. Can you help me with that Felicity?” A big smile broke out on his face as he suddenly realized he had latched onto a very good idea. “This would be you personally assisting me, nothing to do with Verdant at all. I want to hire you separately to um you know, make my home automatic.”

“Are you sure home automation is for you Oliver?” Felicity asked, suppressing the urge to laugh at his absurd plan. “Because you’re not the most technologically savvy person I know and the last thing you want is to have to sit around and work out how to control your oven using your phone.”

“That’s why I need you. To help me with this home automation stuff. I want to be modern,” he declared, looking pleased with himself. “You can help me every step of the way.” 

“Oh I don’t know,” Felicity teased. “This is disaster written all over it. It is my professional opinion that you should just steer clear of this Oliver.”

“Can’t you at least come for dinner tonight so we can talk it over?” Oliver pleaded. “I’ll make chocolate soufflés.”

“Well if there’s chocolate soufflé involved I guess I can’t say no,” Felicity replied giving his shoulder a jab with her finger. “I really have to go and get some coding done and you have paperwork to do by the look of things. I’ll see you tonight.”

***

Oliver true to form had not bothered to ask her a single word about home automation all night. Instead they had talked about their childhoods, favourite movies, places travelled to, places they hoped to travel to and a whole lot of other playful nonsense none of which had anything to do with the supposed reason why he had invited her over. When the clock hit 11pm, Felicity decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.

“I think I should be getting home now. It’s late and I don’t want to drive home too late at night.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday. You should stay the night!” Oliver blurted out, his eyes widening in horror at what he said.

To his relief Felicity merely smiled at him and responded, “This wasn’t a date Oliver remember. You invited me here to discuss home automation. Which we didn’t discuss at all.” She flashed him a coy smile before adding, “Besides even if it was a date I wouldn’t be staying over on a first date.”

“Err we got side tracked tonight I guess. Can I see you tomorrow to discuss home automation?”

Felicity felt like stamping her foot at him for having the audacity to go through this rim roll again however the urge faded as she observed him standing there in his immaculate apartment, biceps bulging out of his fitted short sleeve shirt with a shy hopeful grin on his face.

Felicity closed the distance between them and pulled his face towards her, planting a soft kiss onto his lips, her nose squishing against his before she pulled away and addressed him calmly her hands still holding his face.

“Oliver I’ve tried not to read too much into it and then I tried to give you the space to make the first move and ask me out but you haven’t so now I’m going to help you along and make things easier for you. Would you like to ask me out? Or alternatively would you like me to ask you out? Because you’re not a candidate for home automation and for both our sakes I think you should stop trying to come up with these strange schemes to seek my help.”

Oliver didn’t respond right away, instead opting to pull her towards him and kiss her senseless for a few minutes. When they both finally came up for air he wrapped both arms around her waist before asking her, “Felicity will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow and will you stay over tonight? I have a spare room.”

Before Felicity could respond he added hopefully, “Crispy waffles for breakfast tomorrow morning if you stay over!”


	9. Who's That Girl?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 9\. Who's That Girl? - Felicity and Oliver go on a secret mission, give into their base urges resulting in some interesting consequences for the both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi Guys
> 
> Someone once told me they wanted an "Olicity goes on a mission" ficlet which I was unable to write at the time. Today I suddenly felt inspired. Hope you enjoy it!

The mission was simple. Dress up as a significantly younger disgruntled looking goth, infiltrate the underground “nerd hub” as Oliver had called it, casually extract their data, get out and fly home to Star City. With a bit of luck Oliver would barely even need to lift a finger. He was there to serve as her muscle in case she needed back up.

Felicity expertly swiped on a coat of fairy floss pink lipstick and straightened the little black beret that was sitting on top of her lavender hair before bending down to pull up her thigh high socks. They were cute and did incredible things for her legs but she could see herself fussing with them constantly. She straightened her cropped, sweetheart neckline, lacy black top and smoothed out the pleats in her very short black pleated skirt. Satisfied with her appearance, Felicity was about to turn to retrieve her bag when she suddenly felt a firm slap on her bottom. Yelping in surprise she whirled around to see Oliver eyeing her with an unmistakable expression of lust on his face.

“Oliver, what the hell!”

Oliver paid her absolutely no mind at all. Instead he pulled her over to the edge of the bed and let his hands wander under her skirt.

“Stop it!” she laughed, slapping his hands away. “What is up with you? This is serious Oliver. Hands out of my pants.” In the few seconds that it took her to chastise him, his hands had roamed under her panties and were now gripping on her butt cheeks.

“You want to find out what’s up with me?” he responded gleefully at her unfortunate choice of words.

Shaking her head at him, Felicity pried his fingers off her bottom and placed them onto his lap, rolling her eyes at his hurt look of protest.

“Oliver stop it! You don’t even like the goth look! What is with the grabby hands?” she admonished trying to keep a straight face. He had that glint in his eye; the glint that said this could take a really fun turn if she would let it. But they had a mission to complete, intel to collect and possibly Helix to stop. There was absolutely no time for saucy bedroom role-play shenanigans. 

“I like all your looks Felicity. I’ll admit I prefer Corporate Felicity and Naughty Librarian Felicity to Stringy Haired Goth Felicity but this…this Pastel Goth thing you have going is really working for you. Don’t you ever age?” He gave her another appreciative glance before grabbing her bare thigh, causing her carefully arranged socks to slip down. 

“Well I thought it was time to update the old goth look a bit for the new mission. I’d like to think I have grown beyond stringy black hair and cargo shorts.” Oliver nodded seriously as she spoke while still running his hands up and down her leg in absolute fascination like he had never seen a woman’s leg before.

“Oliver come on, we have to go. I’ll make it up to you later I promised.” Clearly the only way to get him out of his current state of preoccupation with her was to offer him some sort of reward later tonight.

“I give up so much for the city,” Oliver sighed mournfully as he squeezed her thigh one more time before letting go.

***

The mission went off without a hitch. In fact it had gone so well they managed to fly back a day early to Star City, which was when all their troubles began.

“I think Pastel Goth Felicity may be climbing her way up on my list of Felicities,” Oliver murmured as his hands wandered idly up her skirt again.

“Oliver, stop it! We’re almost at the room,” Felicity whispered, turning around and eyeing the lobby shiftily to see if there was anyone around. Fortunately it was 2 am in the morning on a Wednesday and there was not a soul to be seen. She probably should have changed back into her normal clothes and rinsed off the lavender hair but Oliver was so very “attracted” to her new goth look and she had promised to make it up to him, Felicity decided maybe there was no harm in keeping her little costume on for a while. They had picked a boutique hotel on the far edge of town in the dead of night, it was unlikely anyone would recognize them. 

“Relax Felicity,” Oliver flashed a cheeky grin as he pushed her into the nearest wall, pinning her to it with his body, his hands roaming under her skirt once again. “Aren’t you the one who’s always telling me to loosen up and relax?”

“I didn’t think you groping me while I’m in a disguise, in a public corridor was how you planned on showing me that you’ve been listening to my advice,” Felicity whispered, desperately trying to fight the urge to smile. Oliver was usually always so serious and mission focused. He loved her and worshipped the ground she walked on. However despite loving the constant heart eyes and devoted looks of adoration, there was something about him pawing at her like a horny teenager that thrilled her. 

“Shhh,” he cooed at her comfortingly. “Nothing will go wrong I promise. You don’t look anything like yourself and Mayor Queen is taking vacation days. No one will know. Now be a good girl and give me what you promised me.” He gave her bottom a resounding slap and Felicity let out a squeal before grinning and pulling him in for a kiss. Screw the consequences.

***

“You son of a ……” Oliver swiftly dodged Rene’s punch and flipped the other man onto the ground, trying to do as little damage as he could. Realising that they were in his Mayor’s office, in public, he quickly hauled Rene back on his feet. 

“What was that about?” he asked, shooting the other man a puzzled look. Before he could work out what was going on Quentin stormed into the office and proceeded to try and throw a punch, which Oliver narrowly avoided. He had aimed straight for Oliver’s jaw.

“Would someone tell me what the hell is going on that is causing my team to physically attack me for no good reason,” Oliver asked in amazement as Dinah marched in behind Quentin, giving him a cold angry stare. “What is wrong with all of you?” 

“Oh so you want to know what’s wrong with us huh,” Quentin spat out at him viciously. “Maybe you should be taking a look at what the hell is wrong with you. I can’t even look at you right now Mr. Mayor. After all these years and everything we’ve been through I thought that you had finally grown up but you had to go and screw it all up.” Rene and Dinah both nodded in agreement, casting Oliver looks of pure contempt and disdain. 

“What on earth are you talking about?” Oliver was feeling bewildered now. Were they drugged? Did a new drug hit town in the time he and Felicity were away and somehow the team had been dosed?

“I can’t believe you’re going to try and deny it. You’ve screwed up your one chance at happiness Queen. The best thing that ever happened to you. Gone! All because you couldn’t keep it in your pants. A girl like Felicity is not going to stay with you after this.” Quentin threw a newspaper with force at him, leaving no doubt that the man was wishing he could aim for Oliver’s head. 

“ **Olicity, End of the Fairytale? Mayor Handsome the love rat strays with raunchy younger woman** ” the headline read with several compromising shots of him with his hands under Felicity’s skirt. Felicity’s face was obscured by her hair and beret making it look indeed like he was groping some scantily dressed hottie.

“Oh shit Felicity’s going to be pissed,” he muttered once he had sufficient time to process the pictures. His face was clear in the shots, there was no denying that it was him. And whilst he could explain to the team that he and Felicity had undertaken a side mission in their own time, there was still the pesky matter of how he was going to explain this to the general public.

“It’s not what it looks like,” he addressed the three pairs of scornful eyes glaring at him.

“Looks pretty clear to me,” Dinah snapped at him. She looked like she wanted to deck him too but was holding back because they were in public and if she went after him it was highly likely the other two would jump in resulting in an all out brawl.

“The girl in the picture is Felicity,” he explained, his cheeks colouring slightly as the images of what went down that night played back in his mind. He was without a doubt in some hot water but he couldn’t honestly say it wasn’t worth it. “We had some other business to attend to, she was in a disguise and well…things got out of hand.”

“You mean that was you and Felicity? Felicity dressed up all kinky?” Rene’s face was a mixture of both relief and horror at the same time. On one hand a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Dad was not cheating on Mom after all. On the other hand Mom and Dad were running around having kinky public sex. He didn’t know whether he should cheer up or feel even more disturbed. Quentin who had lost all his anger and bluster now merely looked ill. Dinah to her credit remained stoic with no visible reaction although she had lost her earlier hostile stance.

“Guys, it’s not what you think…” Dig sprang through the door and stopped mid sentence as soon as he saw their faces. Judging by the looks of embarrassment, horror and sheer relief, it appeared that everyone had sorted themselves out and he didn’t need to break up a fight after all. 

“You knew it was Felicity?” Dinah asked, looking impressed.

“Yeah, once you know these two idiots for long enough it’s not hard to predict their pattern of behavior.” Dig cast Oliver a withering look and shook his head. “I’m guessing this was _your_ idea?”

“Why do you assume it was my idea?” Oliver demanded defensively despite knowing full well it was very much his idea and this was just going to make him look even more foolish. “Why wouldn’t you assume it was Felicity’s idea? You have her on this pedestal John but I’ll have you know that she’s quite a little…”

“Oh my God enough!” John roared at him, practically jamming his fingers into his ears. “I don’t want to know! I don’t care whose idea it was. One of you should have said no! Or at least waited until you made it to the room.”

“I have to go find Felicity,” Oliver sighed. His brilliant Felicity, founder of Queen Inc. (which was doing remarkably well in its second year) was soon going to have all her accomplishments overshadowed by being known as the long suffering wife Mayor Queen cheated on. He made a mental note to pick up a chocolate cream pie and a pint of mint chip ice cream before he went home tonight.

***

“It’s all over the print press so I can’t even get rid of all the photos,” Felicity wailed as she laid on her stomach, her head buried under a pillow, lamenting about their predicament. Despite the less than stellar circumstances, Oliver couldn’t help but gaze at his wife fondly. Felicity was always cute but she was extra adorable right now trying to shield herself from public embarrassment by hiding under the biggest, fluffiest pillow she could find. She had firmly buried her head, only popping out occasionally to rant at him before tucking her head back under like a baby turtle.

“Maybe it’ll blow over?” Oliver suggested brightly, trying his best not to work her up any further. “Give it a few weeks and if we don’t get caught again they’ll soon forget my err indiscretion.”

“You are not getting caught with slutty Pastel Goth Felicity ever again,” Felicity peeked half of her head out to glare at him. “In fact you are never seeing Pastel Goth Felicity ever again.”

Oliver opened his mouth to protest but thought the better of it. Now was not the time to persuade her to let Pastel Goth Felicity back into their lives. “I’m sorry honey. It’s hot news right now but people will get sick of talking about it I promise you.” He rolled over towards her and gently pried the pillows away from her head before pulling her into his body for a cuddle.

“It’s getting worse!” Felicity wailed again. “Do you remember when we had lunch yesterday and you teased me about my baking as you were walking me back to the office so I hid my face in your chest? Well someone took a photo of that and the caption reads ‘ _Felicity Queen, breaks down over betrayal as she tries to put on a brave public face._ ’ I will never live it down Oliver. No matter how successful I am, no matter what Queen Inc. achieves I will forever be known as that woman.”

“What woman honey?” Oliver rubbed circles on her back, hoping to placate her. 

“The woman that stays and forgives her straying husband! People will always feel sorry for me. They’ll look at me and see that pathetic woman who took you back and didn’t have the courage to leave you.” She dived for another pillow and hid her face in it. “You know if we were ever going to get busted for something like this I always thought it would be me kissing the Green Arrow.”

“And how would that be better than our current situation?” Oliver asked, trying to contain the amusement in his voice.

“The Green Arrow is hot and a hero who has saved my life before. Can you blame a girl for a moment of weakness? You hooked up with a random skanky goth!” Felicity cried indignantly. 

“Oh Pastel Goth Felicity is pretty hot honey,” Oliver couldn’t help himself despite knowing that his comment was going to incur her wrath. Felicity let out a frustrated screech as she tried to wriggle out of his arms.

“It’s okay baby, I’ll fix this,” Oliver soothed, nuzzling her neck while trying to gently hold her down so that she wouldn’t escape from his arms.

“And just how do you plan to fix this?” Felicity grumbled. Oliver smiled to himself. He knew Felicity all too well; she was still upset but she had reached the stage where she was going to square her shoulders and move forward now.

“It’s time to make a public statement about this. I might have to sacrifice both our reputations a bit but it’ll be better than the current story they are running.” 

***

 **Olicity, the Fairytale lives on. Mayor Queen reveals insatiable appetite for wife and the truth behind those compromising pictures.**  

Louise Hanford-Chappell let out an audible tsk as she placed the newspaper back on her tea tray. Really the younger generation were all too much with their questionable behaviour and hedonistic ways. And to publicly admit to engaging in such behavior was simply so distasteful. 

After witnessing their little exchange at the function honoring the SCPD a few years earlier Louise wasn’t surprised that Mayor Queen enjoyed having his respectable wife dress up like an adult movie star. Louise wondered if Mayor Queen himself still dressed up in leather and tied his wife up. That poor Felicity Queen was such a pretty and seemingly intelligent girl too. Marry in haste and repent in leisure, as Louise’s mother was wont to say.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless Plug:
> 
> If you like my short stories try Palace which is posted separately because my husband convinced me to do so (long story):
> 
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/11729529/chapters/26427426


	10. Bad Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> OTA mourns the loss of their former team members as NTA come to an unfortunate end.
> 
> A post 614 rage fic
> 
> NOT FOR ANYONE WHO IS A FAN OF THE SHITTY USELESS NOOBS (Aka Curtis, Rene and Dinah) ON ARROW

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Completed irritated and enraged by this week's episode (614) I could not concentrate on updating my new fic and just HAD to get this little piece out my my system before I could move on.
> 
> This is a purely self indulgent revenge fic on my part! Read at your own risk!

The three original members of Team Arrow linked arms as they gazed sadly at the three graves in front of them. Felicity was standing in the middle with Oliver and John towering on either side of her. So things had finally come full circle and it was back to the three of them again.

Felicity let out a sniffle, wiping away a tear that had rolled down her cheek. Oliver and John both simultaneously tried to hug her. They hated seeing Felicity cry.

“It’s all so very unfortunate,” Felicity said in a watery voice. “Just when we had reunited, all three of theme came to such an unfortunate end.”

“It was just bad luck,” Oliver assured her, kissing the top of her head. For once he wasn’t blaming himself. Not that he had any reason to blame himself. It was literally bad luck that had killed their three former team members.

A metahuman by the name of DeVoe had blown into Star City. According to Barry, DeVoe could command bad luck on will. It was one of his super powers. Unfortunately what Barry didn’t know was that DeVoe had accumulated some newfound skills during his stint as the big bad in Central City and could effectively cast a bad luck spell on anyone. The bad luck would follow them around for days on end, culminating in their imminent death. 

Team Arrow (the crowded Team Arrow before the demise of all the new members) had come face to face with DeVoe who had graciously let them go for he was in Starling attending to other non villainous business and really wanted nothing to do with them.

Noting the damage Cayden James had done to the city and the fact that they still had 3D Printing Dragon to fight, Felicity and Diggle both listened to Oliver when he decided DeVoe was not their fight to fight.

Rene, Curtis and Dinah however disagreed. Not wishing to cause another team drama and risk hearing Rene’s repetitive delivery of “This doesn’t change anything hoss” (seriously he knew Rene had limited vocabulary but Oliver really felt like he couldn’t stand to hear that line one more time) Oliver had refrained from saying anything when the three stooges charged out and tried to hunt down DeVoe.

There they were standing in line ready to face DeVoe. Curtis with his ridiculous face paint, tossing his T Spheres up and down, Dinah in her semi squat I-may-need-a-bathroom-break fighting stance and Rene with the colander on his face. DeVoe who really felt that the B team were beneath him was more than willing to let them go a second time when Rene insisted on standing his ground, glaring at DeVoe sullenly and once again uttering his trademark statement of, “This doesn’t change anything hoss.”

For some unfortunate reason DeVoe took offence to that particular line and immediately cursed them all before vanishing into thin air, presumably to find and torment Barry some more.

It was then that Team B’s bad luck streak began. Rene lost custody of Zoe to a nice set of well to do middle class relatives who wanted to raise her as their own (the bad luck was specific to Rene, not Zoe whose life appeared to be on the up and up now that her deadbeat dad no longer had custody of her), his lung collapse again followed promptly by his other lung also collapsing.

As he was informed of how serious his condition was, Rene glared at his doctor defiantly and once again uttered the line “This doesn’t change anything hoss.” It was right in that moment that the hospital light fitting fell on top of him, hitting him on a delicate spot on his head, thereby killing him instantly.

Curtis’s bad luck was swift. Not soon after DeVoe cursed him, his T Spheres exploded in his pockets killing him instantly.

They could never fully understand Dinah’s death and neither could the doctor who examined her corpse. However based on the trusty doctor’s explanation, it looked like she had choked on her own Canary Cry and dropped dead instantly.

It was all in all a very sad affair.

“Oliver did tell them not to go after DeVoe,” Diggle said shaking his head. “Pity they didn’t listen.”

“Such a waste of lives,” Felicity sniffled again. “They were so young.”

“Felicity honey you arranged their burials and set them up in lovely graves side by side, forever a team,” Oliver consoled his wife, giving her another hug.

“And the message on Rene’s gravestone was such a nice touch,” John chimed in.

“It is, isn’t it?” Felicity said, perking up a bit.

“You did great. It's Rene through and through,” John assured her, giving her hand a squeeze as they looked at the engraving on Rene’s grave which read:

**_I may be gone from this world but that doesn’t change anything hoss._ **


End file.
